The influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on the psychological well-being of college students: a cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVE: Even before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, concerns regarding college students' mental health were on the rise due to the increasing number of students afflicted with mental health issues. Exposure to numerous pandemic-related measures exacerbated existing issues with anxiety, depression, and stress. This study aimed to assess depression, anxiety, and stress levels among university students in the Aseer region in Saudi Arabia. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Data were collected from eligible individuals using a web-based, self-administered DASS-21 questionnaire. This questionnaire consists of 21 questions with a rating scale of 0-3. Each of the psychological factors of depression, anxiety, and stress was categorized as normal, mild, moderate, severe, and extremely severe. Results were expressed using descriptive statistics as proportions, and the Mann-Whitney/Kruskal-Wallis' test was used to evaluate the presence of a significant difference between each of the socio-demographic factors of the respondents and the psychological outcomes. RESULTS: Respondents aged between 18-24 years reported higher rates of extremely severe depression than other age groups. Females had higher rates of depression, especially severe and extremely severe forms. Extremely severe anxiety had a relatively high prevalence across all age groups. Extremely severe stress was more common among respondents aged between 1824 years, while respondents older than 34 years reported the highest prevalence of severe stress. The Mann-Whitney/Kruskal-Wallis' tests showed statistically significant differences between participants in the different groups. CONCLUSIONS: The COVID-19 pandemic had a high psychological impact on university students, which indicates that a psychological support program should be implemented to reduce this impact.