Study Gauges Psychological Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on University Students
April 23, 2021
New research suggests university students need extra mental health support during COVID-19. Researchers surveyed just over 2,500 students from seven U.S. universities between March and May 2020. All respondents said they were negatively impacted by the pandemic, with 59% experiencing high levels of psychological impact. Students who were female, non-Hispanic Asian, in fair/poor health, from a lower income family, or who knew someone affected by COVID-19 reported higher levels of psychological impact. These findings may be limited by the participant population, which was mostly non-Hispanic White, making it hard to extend these findings to all U.S. university students. “In addition to concerns about physical health and transmission risks, universities need to acknowledge the significant toll the COVID-19 pandemic is taking on the mental health of college students,” the authors said. “And they need to allocate time and resources to address it. We have to be creative to address this unique and unprecedented problem.”
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