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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Mental Health
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1459501
This article is part of the Research Topic The Impact of Psychological Well-Being on University Students View all 28 articles

Depressive and anxiety symptoms among university students during the later stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany - Results from the COVID 19 German Student Well-being Study (C19 GSWS)

Provisionally accepted
Eileen Heumann Eileen Heumann 1*Stefanie M. Helmer Stefanie M. Helmer 2Heide Busse Heide Busse 3Sarah Negash Sarah Negash 4Johannes Horn Johannes Horn 4Claudia R. Pischke Claudia R. Pischke 5Yasemin Niephaus Yasemin Niephaus 6Christiane Stock Christiane Stock 1,7
  • 1 Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany
  • 2 University of Bremen, Bremen, Bremen, Germany
  • 3 Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology - BIPS, Bremen, Bremen, Germany
  • 4 Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany
  • 5 Heinrich Heine University of Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
  • 6 University of Siegen, Siegen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
  • 7 University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Introduction: Data on the mental health of university students in Germany during the later stages of the pandemic is still limited. This study aimed to determine (1) the prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms among university students 1.5 years after the first COVID-19 restrictions and (2) which factors were associated with these outcomes.The cross-sectional COVID-19 German Student Well-being Study (C19 GSWS) collected data of 6,996 students at five German universities. Associations between anxiety and depressive symptoms with sociodemographic and other factors were analyzed using multivariable logistic regression models.The mean age of the participants was 23.9 years (SD= 4.8), 67% were female and 31% male. The prevalence for depressive symptoms was 29% and 32% for anxiety. The lack of a trusted person and financial difficulties were associated with anxiety and depressive symptoms. Being worried that someone in one's personal network had become severely ill with COVID-19 and concern about (re)infection with COVID-19 were associated with anxiety symptoms. Those with pre-existing health conditions had an up to 1.98-times higher chance for reporting depressive symptoms (OR, 95% CI: 1.01-3.88) and an up to 2.27-times higher chance for anxiety symptoms, respectively (OR, 95% CI: 1.15-4.46).Concepts for prevention and counselling to tackle mental health problems in students are needed and programs should take specific stressors in times of crises into account.

    Keywords: Anxiety, Depression, Mental Health, university students, Well-being

    Received: 04 Jul 2024; Accepted: 02 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Heumann, Helmer, Busse, Negash, Horn, Pischke, Niephaus and Stock. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Eileen Heumann, Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.