Allen Rosie E, Hochard Kevin D, Kannangara Chathurika, Carson Jerome
School of Psychology, Faculty of Health and Wellbeing, University of Bolton, Deane Road, Bolton BL3 5AB, UK.
Division of Psychology, University of Chester, Parkgate Road, Chester CH1 4BJ, UK.
Behav Sci (Basel). 2024 Nov 28;14(12):1146. doi: 10.3390/bs14121146.
Longitudinal research into the impact of COVID-19 on university students' mental health beyond the pandemic is lacking. This study aims to address the gap in the literature by tracking the mental health of university students over a two-year period, spanning the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath. A two-year longitudinal study surveyed a sample of university students ( = 302) three times between May 2020 and May 2022. Students' psychological distress, generalised anxiety, flourishing, and personal wellbeing were assessed at each time point. It was found that students' psychological distress levels spiked in May 2021 (T1) during the first year of the pandemic but reverted back to similar levels seen in May 2020 (T0) at the two-year follow-up (T2). While generalised anxiety gradually improved, both students' psychological distress and generalised anxiety remained considerably worse than pre-pandemic norms obtained in other studies. Students' flourishing scores remained very low, while their life satisfaction and state happiness improved slightly between May 2021 (T1) and May 2022 (T2). These findings clearly demonstrate that students' mental health is still in crisis, even after the COVID-19 pandemic. More needs to be done to support students beyond the pandemic generally, including this particularly unique cohort of students who endured unprecedented challenges for prolonged periods, and who are now transitioning into the working world. Practical implications and recommendations are discussed.
关于新冠疫情对大学生心理健康的影响在疫情之后的纵向研究尚属欠缺。本研究旨在通过对大学生心理健康状况进行为期两年的跟踪调查来填补这一文献空白，该时间段涵盖了新冠疫情期间及其后续阶段。一项为期两年的纵向研究在2020年5月至2022年5月期间对302名大学生样本进行了三次调查。在每个时间点评估学生的心理困扰、广泛性焦虑、蓬勃发展状态和个人幸福感。研究发现，学生的心理困扰水平在疫情第一年的2021年5月（T1）达到峰值，但在两年随访（T2）时又恢复到2020年5月（T0）时的类似水平。虽然广泛性焦虑逐渐改善，但学生的心理困扰和广泛性焦虑仍比其他研究中获得的疫情前标准严重得多。学生的蓬勃发展得分仍然很低，而他们的生活满意度和状态幸福感在2021年5月（T1）至2022年5月（T2）之间略有改善。这些发现清楚地表明，即使在新冠疫情之后，学生的心理健康仍处于危机之中。总体而言，在疫情之后需要做更多工作来支持学生，包括这一特别独特的学生群体，他们长期承受了前所未有的挑战，现在正过渡到职场。文中讨论了实际意义和建议。
