Department of Global and Community Health, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, United States.
Department of Community and Population Health, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, United States.
Front Public Health. 2024 Oct 30;12:1442773. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1442773. eCollection 2024.
The COVID-19 pandemic led to major disruptions in the lives of university students, which is a population that is already at a greater risk of mental health concerns. Little is known about how the pandemic impacted distress and mental health services utilization among university students across the United States.
Using survey data from the National College Health Assessment, both before the COVID-19 pandemic (pre-March 2020, = 88,986) and during the pandemic (Spring 2021, = 96,489), the present study examined mental health symptoms and utilization of mental health services among undergraduate students attending four-year universities in the United States.
There were notable increases in measures of psychological distress and reductions in well-being from before the pandemic to during the pandemic. However, overall utilization rates of mental health services slightly decreased from pre-pandemic to during the pandemic. Predictors of severe psychological distress included those who experienced loneliness, COVID-19 related stressors, and loss of a loved one from COVID-19. COVID-related stressors and loneliness were associated with higher utilization rates of mental health services, while well-being and resilience were associated with lower utilization rates.
Analyses revealed that several demographic groups were at an elevated risk for severe psychological distress, including non-binary, female, and sexual minority students, and especially those who identify as both non-binary and non-heterosexual. Results indicated that students of color, especially female students of color, were less likely to receive mental health services. Future research is needed to increase our understanding of the barriers to mental health service use among high-risk university students.
COVID-19 大流行导致大学生的生活发生了重大变化，而大学生群体已经面临更大的心理健康问题风险。对于大流行如何影响美国大学生的困扰和心理健康服务利用情况，我们知之甚少。
本研究使用全国大学生健康评估的调查数据，在 COVID-19 大流行之前（2020 年 3 月之前，=88986）和大流行期间（2021 年春季，=96489），调查了美国四年制大学本科生的心理健康症状和心理健康服务利用情况。
从大流行前到大流行期间，心理健康症状和幸福感都明显增加。然而，从大流行前到大流行期间，心理健康服务的总体利用率略有下降。严重心理困扰的预测因素包括孤独、COVID-19 相关压力源和因 COVID-19 失去亲人的人。与 COVID 相关的压力源和孤独感与心理健康服务利用率的增加有关，而幸福感和适应力与利用率的降低有关。
分析结果显示，一些人口统计学群体的严重心理困扰风险较高，包括非二元性别、女性和性少数群体学生，特别是同时是非二元性别和非异性恋的学生。结果表明，有色人种学生，尤其是女性有色人种学生，获得心理健康服务的可能性较低。需要进一步研究以增加我们对高风险大学生心理健康服务利用障碍的理解。
