The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on college students in USA: Two years later

COVID-19 vaccine perspectives and uptake among university students three years into the pandemic

BACKGROUND

University students have been uniquely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic for the past three years (2020-2023). Understanding their COVID-19 perspectives, beliefs, and vaccine uptake may help to improve future vaccine initiatives and education.

METHODS

A cross sectional, confidential, online survey was conducted at four universities in Pennsylvania in spring 2023 to assess undergraduate, graduate, and professional students' perspectives regarding their knowledge of COVID-19 vaccines, importance of COVID-19 vaccines and mandates, number of doses of COVID-19 vaccine received including the recent BA.4/BA.5 bivalent booster, where they were vaccinated, receipt of influenza vaccine, and sources of information used to make decisions about COVID-19 vaccine.

RESULTS

Vaccination for COVID-19 was considered important by 75 % of 2223 students surveyed; 68 % agreed with mandating COVID-19 vaccine. Over 89 % were fully COVID-19 vaccinated (≥2 doses), 65 % were up-to-date (≥3 doses), but only 35 % had received the BA.4/BA.5 booster. Students who considered COVID-19 vaccine important were generally older, female, and non-business majors. Higher rates of up-to-date COVID-19 vaccination were found in those who received influenza vaccine in 2022-2023, females, Asians, doctoral or professional students, those attending larger universities, non-US residents, and those interested in learning more about COVID-19 vaccines. Most trusted sources of information on COVID-19 vaccines were the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, healthcare providers, and parents; the least trusted sources were social media, television, and the internet.

CONCLUSIONS

The majority of university students agreed that COVID-19 vaccination is important and supported COVID-19 mandates. While the rate of fully vaccinated and up-to-date students was similar to the US adult population, the latter rate needs improvement. Receipt of the BA.4/BA.5 booster was particularly low. Further education is needed to improve vaccine knowledge, especially as we move to periodic boosters. Business majors, males, and younger students may benefit from increased on-campus vaccine education initiatives.

A 2-year mental health follow-up study subsequent to COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly impacted the mental health and education of college students. This study examined the interrelationships among loneliness, resilience, and COVID-19 fear among college students in Northern Michigan, a region of the United States severely affected by the pandemic. Data were collected from two student cohorts (n = 258), with half surveyed in early 2022 and the other half in mid-2022, two years after pandemic's onset. The Omicron wave peaked in Michigan in January 2022, but by June 2022, cases, hospitalizations, and deaths had significantly declined. Students completed measures of loneliness, resilience, learning difficulty, and psychological symptoms. Key findings are: 1) Participants' fear, loneliness, and academic difficulty decreased over time, reflecting fluctuations in acute situational and emotional states; 2) Unexpectedly, resilience declined from early to mid-2022, suggesting its diminishing protective role under prolonged, pandemic-induced stress; 3) Despite improvements, students continued reporting high academic difficulties. Loneliness, heightened fear, and dampened happiness together contributed to greater academic difficulties; 4) Pre-existing sex differences equalized two years after the pandemic's onset. While modest improvements were noted, enduring academic and mental health impacts signal a need for continued support.

Multidimensional social support and associations between COVID-19 stress and depressive/anxiety outcomes among Hispanic/Latinx and White first-year college students

Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to greater depression and anxiety among college students. Social support may alleviate this risk. We examined how social support from family, friends, and romantic partners may influence internalizing psychopathology outcomes associated with COVID-19-related stressful events. Participants: Participants were first-years (N = 425, 34.8% Hispanic/Latinx, 74.9% female) enrolled in a United States public university. Methods: Participants completed an online survey in Fall of 2020. Linear regression models examined associations between COVID-19 stressors, social support, depressive and anxiety symptoms, and differences between White and Hispanic/Latinx students. Results: Reported COVID-19 stressors were associated with elevated depressive and anxiety symptoms and higher among Hispanic/Latinx students. Family and friend support were negatively associated with both internalizing outcomes. Partner support was negatively associated with depression and more predictive among White students whereas friend support was for Hispanic/Latinx students' anxiety. Conclusions: These findings demonstrate the importance of social connectedness during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Unraveling the controversial effect of Covid-19 on college students' performance

We disentangle the channels through which Covid-19 has affected the performance of university students by setting up an econometric strategy to identify separately changes in both teaching and evaluation modes, and the short and long term effects of mobility restrictions. We exploit full and detailed information from the administrative archives of one among the first universities to be shut down since the virus spread from Wuhan. The results help solving the inconsistencies in the literature by providing evidence of a composite picture where negative effects such as those caused by the sudden shift to remote learning and by the exposure to mobility restrictions, overlap to opposite effects due to a change in evaluation methods and home confinement during the exam's preparation. Such overlap of conflicting effects, weakening the signaling role of tertiary education, would add to the learning loss by further exacerbating future consequences on the "Covid" generation.

The Relationship Between Fear of COVID-19 and Psychological Distress in Tour Guides: The Mediating Role of Job Insecurity and the Moderating Role of Psychological Resilience

Purpose

The COVID-19 has greatly affected the tourism industry in China, leading to an increase in psychological distress among tour guides. This study explores the mechanisms by which tour guides' fear of the COVID-19 affects psychological distress, using job insecurity as a mediating variable and psychological resilience as a moderating variable.

Patients and Methods

From August 11 to 30, 2022, 447 Chinese tour guides were invited online to fill in a questionnaire, and SPSS and Mplus tools were used for statistical analysis and hypothesis testing to conduct an empirical analysis of the relationship between COVID-19 fear and psychological distress.

Results

A total of 417 questionnaires (effective rate was 93.3%) were collected, among which female (n = 243) and male (41.7%) (n =174). The age concentration of participants was 46.5% between 26 and 35 years old, 9.1% under 25 years old, and 9.8% over 46 years old. Guides' fear of COVID-19 positively and significantly influenced psychological distress (β= 0.3051), and the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and psychological distress was mediated by job insecurity (β=0.196, 95% CI = 0.141, 0.255). In addition, psychological resilience significantly moderated the pathway from fear of COVID-19 to job insecurity and from fear of COVID-19 to guided psychological distress (β= 0.1371; β=0.116).

Conclusion

The diversion of fear of COVID-19 and job insecurity can alleviate the psychological distress of tour guides; strengthening their own psychological construction also helps to alleviate the effects of fear of COVID-19 on job insecurity and psychological distress. The findings of the study can provide theoretical support for the prevention and counseling of psychological problems of tourism employees in public health crises.

Psychological Capital and Self-Acceptance Modified the Association of Depressive Tendency with Self-Rated Health of College Students in China during the COVID-19 Pandemic

BACKGROUND

To explore the association between the self-reported health status, depressive tendency, psychological capital, and self-acceptance of college students in China during the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS

Using the online survey platform "questionnaire star", a two-phase cross-sectional study was conducted on a total number of 1438 undergraduates with informed consents. The questionnaires of Self-Rated Health Measurement Scale (SRHMS), the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D), Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ-24), and self-acceptance questionnaire were administered to each participant.

RESULTS

Male college students had significantly higher depressive tendency scores than female (17.59 vs. 15.82) (p < 0.01). College students having no siblings had significantly higher psychological capital scores than those having siblings (108.63 vs. 105.60) (p < 0.05). Exercise had significantly positive associations with self-rated health, psychological capital, and self-acceptance scores, while online time per day had significantly negative associations. Multivariate analysis showed that the interaction between depressive tendency, psychological capital, and self-acceptance was statistically significant (β = 0.004, p = 0.013 for phase 1 and β = 0.002, p = 0.025 for phase 2) in health status with depressive tendency ranking the top (β = -0.54 for phase 1 and -0.41 for phase 2, p < 0.001). Mediation analysis showed that psychological capital and self-acceptance modified the association of depressive tendency with health status.

CONCLUSION

Physical exercise is beneficial to both physical and psychological health. Depressive tendency is the main risk factor that associates with self-rated health. Regardless of depressive tendency level, high psychological capital and self-acceptance could improve college students' health.

Sexual Assault, Mental Health, and Alcohol Use in College Women: The Role of Resilience and Campus Belonging

Understanding the mental health outcomes of sexual assault among college women is a public health priority. Although research has identified risk factors for the development of mental health problems following an assault, few studies have utilized a strengths-based approach to identify personal and social resources that may mediate the sexual assault-mental health link. Prior studies allude to the role of resilience and perceived campus belonging in explaining the relationship between sexual assault and mental health. This study represents the first application of the stress process model using a large sample of college women to examine (a) the association between sexual assault and mental health (i.e., psychological distress, suicidality, self-harm) and alcohol use problems and (b) the role of resilience and perceived campus belonging as partial mediators of these associations. Data were collected as part of the Spring 2021 American College Health Association National College Health Assessment (ACHA-NCHA; n = 31,328, Mean age = 20.26, SD = 1.64, 58.8% White), a cross-sectional, online survey that samples college students from 143 self-selected United States colleges. To test our primary hypothesis, a structural regression model was conducted, which included a latent sexual assault predictor, manifest resilience and campus belonging mediators, a latent mental health outcome, and a manifest alcohol use problems outcome. Mental health and alcohol use problems were positively associated with sexual assault and negatively associated with resilience and campus belonging. Resilience partially mediated the association between sexual assault and mental health. Campus belonging partially mediated the association between sexual assault, mental health, and alcohol use problems. This model explained 23.2% of the variance in mental health and 5.9% of the variance in alcohol use. Resilience and campus belonging may represent modifiable factors that can be targeted in trauma-focused interventions in efforts to improve victimized college women's mental health.

COVID-19 and mental health among college students in the southwestern United States

Objective: We examined COVID-19-related experiences, mental health, and future plans among US undergraduate and graduate students in the initial months of the pandemic. Participants: 72 students (68% female; 51.4% white; age x- =24.4) from 21 colleges in the US southwest concurrently enrolled in a stress-reduction study. Methods: Between March and June 2020, participants completed an online survey about demographics, personal and vicarious COVID-19 experiences, mood, and future plans. Anxiety and depression symptoms were assessed with the GAD-7 and PHQ-9, respectively. Results: Worry about COVID-19 was associated with anxiety and depression symptoms and personal and vicarious experiences with COVID-19. COVID-19 worry varied by illness severity and level of intimacy with those impacted. Most participants reported changing educational (66.7%) and life (55.6%) plans due to COVID-19. Conclusions: Given the continued impact of COVID-19 on physical/emotional health and future plans, universities should assist students in managing COVID-19-related stress so they can continue to learn and grow.