Mental Health Among College Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic at a Hispanic-Serving Institution

Mental health among Hispanic college students during the COVID-19 pandemic: Concurrent and predictive effects of negative and positive COVID-19 changes

Objective: We generated items to assess COVID-19 changes among Hispanic college students and examined the concurrent and predictive effects of these changes vis-à-vis mental health. Participants: The sample consisted of 559 Hispanic first-year (69% women; age range 18-22; 88.1% U.S.-born; 84% Mexican/Mexican American) attending a public university in Texas. Methods: Students participated in a three-wave longitudinal online survey assessing stressors, COVID-19 changes, anxious and depressive symptoms, hope, and self-esteem. Results: Students experienced negative changes across six life domains as a result of the pandemic-related lockdowns: education; health; relationships; finances; social issues; death/loss. They also reported positive changes during the lockdowns. Negative changes were positively correlated with higher, and positive changes with lower, acculturative and perceived stress. Negative COVID-19 changes predicted lower mental health. Conclusions: Hispanic students experienced both negative and positive COVID-19 changes, which were related to their mental health. Results can guide research and decision-making during future pandemics.

Stress and diurnal cortisol among Latino/a college students: A multi-risk model approach

The transition to college is a time of increased opportunity and stress spanning multiple domains. Adolescents who encounter significant stress during this transition may be vulnerable to adverse outcomes due to a "wear and tear" of the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis. Latino/a students may be particularly at-risk for heightened stress exposure due to experiences of both minority-specific and general life stress. Despite this, little is known regarding the cumulative impact of multiple stressors on Latino/a students' HPA axis functioning. The present study employed a "multi-risk model" approach to examine additive, common, and cumulative effects of multiple stress forms (general, academic, social, financial, bicultural, ethnic/racial discrimination) on diurnal cortisol in a sample of first-year Latino/a college students (N = 196; 64.4% female; Mage = 18.95). Results indicated that no stress forms were additively associated with the cortisol awakening response (CAR), but general stress was associated with a flatter diurnal cortisol slope (DCS) and bicultural stress was linked with a steeper DCS. A college stress latent factor was associated with a lower CAR, whereas a latent factor of discrimination was not associated with diurnal cortisol. Cumulative risk was linked with a lower CAR. Findings highlight the physiological correlates of various stressors experienced by Latino/a college students.

Access and efficacy of university mental health services during the COVID-19 pandemic

Objective

This study sought to understand the mental health issues, mental health support and efficacy of that support among university students.

Participants

All students enrolled in a College of Arts and Sciences at one mid-size university received an email that contained a link to an anonymous, online questionnaire developed and disseminated through PsychData. 162 students completed the questionnaire.

Methods

Mixed methods: Data was summarized using descriptive analysis, testing for significance, testing for differences, and content analysis.

Results

Participants reported high levels of anxiety (76%) and depression (65%). Results indicated that participant demographics were associated with types of mental access, and support. Unexpected results included lack of knowledge or information on cost, and how to access mental health services hindered access for participants, and although telehealth was the most widely used support, in contrast to other studies, participants indicated a preference for face-to-face mental health services.

Conclusion

Results highlight the need for improving communication about and access to mental health services in higher education Recommendations and implications for policy and support services are provided.

Sleeping behavior and associated factors during COVID-19 in students at a Hispanic serving institution in the US southwestern border region

Sleep is responsible for maintenance and regulatory functions in human physiology. Insufficient sleep has been associated with cardiovascular disease, weight gain, obesity, inflammation, and morbidity. University students are at high risk under normal circumstances of stress and anxiety due to extracurricular demands, competing pressures on student time, long study hours, and financial concerns. The COVID 19 pandemic has disrupted normal college students' lives adding stresses such as lost jobs and family responsibilities such as serving as caregivers, which disproportionally affect minority and rural student. This study aimed to assess the correlation of sleep disorders in New Mexico State University students during COVID 19 with selected variates including base demographics (e.g., gender, age, etc.), lifestyle metrics (e.g., employment status, discipline, class, etc.), living arrangements (e.g., housing type, number of children, etc.), alcohol and tobacco use, vaccination status, family COVID status, and family vaccination status. Single- and multi-factor logistic regressions were performed to analyze the data on the students. Qualtrics software was used to collect data on demographics and sleep disorders. R software was used for data analysis. Correlations were found between sleeping less, sleeping more, and disturbed sleep among several covariate categories. For all three responses, being married (sleeping less: OR = 0.342, 95% CI = 0.181-0.642, sleeping more: OR = 0.265, 95% CI = 0.111-0.591; disturbed sleeping: OR = 0.345, 95% CI = 0.182-0.650), frequency of feeling sleepy-very often (OR = 16.87, 95% CI = 6.571-47.434; OR = 8.393, 95% CI = 3.086-25.298; OR = 13.611, 95% CI = 5.409-36.975) and change in diet- quality decreased (OR = 7.304, 95% CI = 3.615-15.270; OR = 5.250, 95% CI = 2.309-12.558; OR = 4.181, 95% CI = 2.145-8.359) were all significant correlated to change in sleeping behavior. Other correlations were found among covariates and sleep changes. Several covariates were determined to be correlated with the effect of COVID-19 on sleeping.

Service-Connected Disability and Happiness in Student Veterans: A Parallel Mediation Study of PERMA

The student veteran population has been growing in higher education, along with the attention to their happiness and well-being. Seligman developed the positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment (PERMA) model to help understand an individual’s happiness, including five pillars: Positive emotion, Engagement, Relationship, Meaning, and Accomplishment. In this study, we aim at evaluating the role of the PERMA model’s five pillars in explaining the relationship between service-connected disability and happiness. Data were collected from 205 student veterans. The result demonstrated that positive emotion and accomplishment mediated the relationship between service-connected disability and happiness. The findings of this study suggest utilizing positive psychology to help student veterans improve happiness, as well as engage in more activities that could potentially increase an individual’s positive emotion and accomplishment, and eventually increase the level of happiness.