Department of Clinical and Experimental Sciences, University of Brescia, Viale Europa 11, 25123 Brescia, Italy.
Research and Clinical Trials Office, Fondazione Poliambulanza Istituto Ospedaliero, Via Bissolati 57, 25124 Brescia, Italy.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Jul 31;20(15):6485. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20156485.
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted freshmen, compromising their mental health, lifestyles, and academic performance. There are few studies that have investigated changes in the health status and lifestyles of freshmen before and after the pandemic. The aims of this study were: (1) to carry out a pre-post-COVID-19 pandemic comparison between two freshmen samples, in order to detect differences in their socio-demographic characteristics and in some clinical variables; (2) to assess the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the social and academic lives of the second sample of freshmen. The samples recruited in 2019 and 2022, matched by propensity score procedure (N = 553), were mostly female (57.3% vs. 55.3%); the mean age was 22.9 and 20.9 years, respectively. The freshmen recruited after the pandemic had less psychological distress and substance use than freshmen recruited before the pandemic. Seventy-eight percent of the freshmen stated that the pandemic had an impact on their social relationships. This effect was greater for females and Italian students. Forty-seven percent reported that the pandemic has worsened their academic performance, while 60% stated that pandemic has improved their grades. The results of this study can provide valuable insights into the impact of the pandemic on freshmen, in order to implement interventions to mitigate the consequences of the pandemic in some subgroups of this target population.
COVID-19 大流行对新生产生了影响，损害了他们的心理健康、生活方式和学业成绩。很少有研究调查过大流行前后新生健康状况和生活方式的变化。本研究的目的是：(1) 在 COVID-19 大流行前后对两个新生样本进行比较，以检测其社会人口统计学特征和一些临床变量的差异；(2) 评估 COVID-19 大流行对第二组新生社会和学术生活的影响。通过倾向评分程序匹配 2019 年和 2022 年招募的样本（N=553），发现新生主要为女性（57.3% vs. 55.3%）；平均年龄分别为 22.9 岁和 20.9 岁。大流行后招募的新生心理困扰和物质使用少于大流行前招募的新生。78%的新生表示大流行对他们的社交关系产生了影响。这种影响对女性和意大利学生更大。47%的人报告说大流行影响了他们的学业成绩，而 60%的人表示大流行提高了他们的成绩。这项研究的结果可以为了解大流行对新生的影响提供有价值的见解，以便针对这一目标人群的某些亚组实施干预措施，减轻大流行的后果。
