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Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Mental Health of College Students in India: Cross-sectional Web-Based Study

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Chaudhary, Amar Prashad, Sonar, Narayan Sah, TR, Jamuna, Banerjee, Moumita, Yadav, Shailesh·2021·JMIRx Med
DOI 10.2196/28158PMC PMC8422937

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Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has created a mental health crisis among college students in India due to lockdown restrictions, overwhelming numbers of COVID-19 cases, financial difficulty, etc. This mental health crisis has led to high degrees of fear, anxiety, and depression among college students. Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate symptoms of fear, depression, and anxiety due to the COVID-19 pandemic among college students in India. Methods: This cross-sectional web-based study was conducted using a Google Forms questionnaire. The Google Form included a sociodemographic questionnaire and psychometric scales evaluating the psychological and behavioral impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, both qualitative and quantitative analyses were performed in the study. Results: A total of 324 college students participated in this study, of whom 180 (55.6%) were male and 144 (44.4%) were female. After assessment of the psychometric scales, it was found that of the 324 students, 223 (68.8%) had high fear of COVID-19, 93 (28.7%) had moderate to severe depression, and 167 (51.5%) had mild to severe anxiety. Among the identified risk factors, having a family member who was infected with COVID-19 was significantly associated with anxiety and depression, with P values of .02 and .001, respectively. In addition, the correlations of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale with the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 scale and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 were found to be 0.492 and 0.474, respectively. Conclusions: This research concludes that there is a very high fear of COVID-19 among students, along with anxiety and depression symptoms. This study also concludes that the Fear of COVID-19 Scale has a moderate positive correlation with the anxiety and depression scales, respectively.

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Chaudhary, A. P., Sonar, N. S., TR, J., Banerjee, M., & Yadav, S.
Affiliations
Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (IN)
Corresponding author
Chaudhary, Amar Prashad
ORCID
Venue
JMIRx Med
Publisher
JMIR Publications Inc.
Published
2021-09-02
Volume
2
Issue
3
Pages
e28158
ISSN
2563-6316 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.2196/28158
PMC
PMC8422937
OpenAlex
W3179048232
Cited by
48
References
8
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 6
FWCI
7.16
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • JMIRx Med (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • medRxiv (acceptedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
  • Greater South Information System
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Student Stress and Coping
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum
Keywords
COVID-19 pandemic, university students, mental health, fear of COVID-19, depression, anxiety, lockdown, risk factors, India

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