Department of Sociology, School of Philosophy and Social Development, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, China.
Department of Sociology, School of Humanities, Social Sciences & Law, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Oct 8;19(19):12882. doi: 10.3390/ijerph191912882.
The psychological well-being of students in higher education has become an increasingly important concern in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The majority of prior studies were cross-sectional and thereby failed to capture the individual changes in mental health over time. Moreover, few studies have explored whether and how socioeconomic and education backgrounds could be related to college students' mental health changes. This study aimed to fill these gaps.
Data were from a nationwide, two-wave panel survey of college students in China. Baseline information was collected in November 2019, i.e., before the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic in China. A follow-up survey was conducted in November and December 2020, when the epidemic was effectively contained in mainland China. In both waves, mental health was assessed with the 10-item Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10). The between-wave changes in psychological distress were measured and categorized.
Overall, 13.5% of students experienced at least a one-standard-deviation increase in psychological distress over the one-year follow-up. Results from both bivariate and multivariable analysis showed that this marked distress increase was more pronounced among vocational college students (vs. academic undergraduate and postgraduate students) and those with lower levels of academic performance. In contrast, family socioeconomic status (as measured by parental education, family economic condition, and current residence) was not associated with distress changes over time.
These findings highlight the importance of the educational disparities within the higher education system in understanding the mental health dynamics of college students in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
在 COVID-19 大流行背景下，高等教育学生的心理健康已成为一个日益重要的关注点。先前的大多数研究都是横断面研究，因此无法捕捉到心理健康随时间的个体变化。此外，很少有研究探讨社会经济和教育背景是否以及如何与大学生的心理健康变化有关。本研究旨在填补这些空白。
数据来自中国一项全国性的、两波大学生纵向调查。基线信息于 2019 年 11 月（即中国 COVID-19 疫情爆发前）收集。在 2020 年 11 月和 12 月进行了一次随访调查，此时中国大陆的疫情已得到有效控制。在这两波调查中，均使用 10 项 Kessler 心理困扰量表（K10）评估心理健康状况。测量并分类了两次调查之间的心理困扰变化。
总体而言，13.5%的学生在一年的随访中经历了至少一个标准差的心理困扰增加。单变量和多变量分析的结果均表明，与学术本科和研究生相比，职业院校学生（与学术本科和研究生相比）以及学业成绩较低的学生（与学术本科和研究生相比）的这种明显的困扰增加更为明显。相比之下，家庭社会经济地位（以父母教育、家庭经济状况和当前居住地衡量）与随时间推移的困扰变化无关。
这些发现强调了高等教育系统内教育差距在理解 COVID-19 大流行背景下大学生心理健康动态方面的重要性。
