How COVID-19 Has Affected Students’ Mental Health
It’s no secret that the
COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on everyone’s mental health. According to
many recent studies and firsthand accounts across the country, college students
are not exempt.
While all students’ experiences are
unique, some may find comfort knowing that they are not alone in the stressors
they are facing. Research done on college student mental health is shedding
light on how they have been mentally impacted by COVID-19 laden school years.
Science Shows Students Are Stressed
According to a Journal of
Medical Internet Research study, just over 71% of the 195 interviewed college
students from a Texas university indicated that they had experienced increased
stress and anxiety due to COVID-19.1
They noted that their stress stemmed
from worries about their own health, the health of their loved ones, irregular
sleeping habits, decreased socialization due to social distancing, difficulty
concentrating, and concerns about their academic performance.
A study published in the Journal of the American
Medical Association looked at the mental health impact on just over 69,000
French university students (participants were primarily female and in their
first year). They found a high prevalence of severe self-reported mental health
symptoms. Researchers suggested that not only is student mental health a public
health issue, but that it has “become even more critical in the context of a
pandemic, underlining the need to reinforce prevention, surveillance, and
access to care.” Ref.
Another study
focused on undergraduate students in Northern
New Jersey. A total of 162 students answered the survey, and participants were
primarily non-white females.
It found that students struggled with
high mental health distress and multiple academic and daily difficulties.
People who had trouble focusing academically and had lost their jobs had higher
levels of depression. Higher anxiety was common among non-freshmen and students
who spent an hour plus per day searching for COVID-19 information. Females,
students who couldn’t focus on academics, and those who said they struggled to
get medicine and cleaning supplies all had higher levels of perceived stress.
Ref.
How Some Students Are Coping
It’s clear that increased
stress and anxiety has been prominent among college students across the
country. Much like the varied response from schools across the nation, students
are handling the atypical fall semester in their own ways. For some, that means
always having something to do and for others, it means taking more time for
self-care. Four students shared their stories of how they adjusted to
pandemic-life.
Back Home Again
Originally from a small
town in Pennsylvania, Megan Boyles, a second year student pursuing her
bachelor's in film and television at Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD),
fell in love with the Georgia school when she first toured. While Boyles had
been living in Savannah pre-pandemic, COVID-19 sent her back home to complete
her semester fully online, which has both positively and negatively impacted
her mental health.
“I am very independent
and started creating a life for myself at SCAD, and then I felt like that was
taken away from me when I came back home,” she said. “I am happy I have my
family to talk to and people I can hug and high five because there are parts of
this pandemic that have caused me a lot of anxiety and sadness.”
Academically, Boyles said her
motivation has remained high and she’s been able to maintain her GPA. While she
has felt a need to be productive, she also understands that it’s okay to take a
break and has allowed herself more time to relax.
“This pandemic can cause
spells of low energy and being unmotivated,” she said. “It is important to
remember that your value is not based off your productivity.”
Having a set schedule has given
Boyles a sense of purpose back, she said. She has been able to engage in meaningful
conversations via her Zoom classes, which helps to distract her from other
stressors in her life.
“For such a long time, I
was stressed and mad at the world because of my friends and family members who
continued being unsafe, as well as the rude comments about masks and this
pandemic that would be (and still are) expressed to me at work,” Boyles said.
“I have lost respect for a lot of my family members because of their actions
during this pandemic and their harsh words about those who have passed on
because of this virus.”
She continued: “I understand that
in-person interaction has an effect on people and their happiness, but in my
mind, it is a small price to pay for the safety of those I love … taking
actions to stay home and wear a mask are signs that we care about our neighbors
and their health.”
Adjusting to Online Learning
Miles Hood is a first
year graduate student pursuing his masters in business administration from
Rochester Institute of Technology. He has adjusted to online learning, but not
because he wanted to.
“This semester has
wrecked and rebuilt how I approach everything,” Hood said. “I prefer totally
in-person over any [other] mode, [and] I feel like the shortened semester puts
a rush on teachers until they feel as if they couldn't teach. They more or less
reviewed new topics and that made it hard for me to feel like I was succeeding
for most of the semester.”
For a while, Hood said he was unmotivated,
didn’t enjoy his graduate program, and overall felt out of place. After a few
therapy sessions, he regained some of his motivation and excitement toward his
dream of becoming a sports journalist.
Socially, Hood identifies as an extrovert. He
is outgoing, loves to laugh with both friends and strangers. He enjoys going to
different bars and restaurants, trying interesting foods—his original goal was
to become the “Black Gordon Ramsay,” he said—and traveling the country.
“COVID has made that
entirely impossible. It has also changed my personality to an extent. I value
hanging out with friends more than I ever did before,” he said.
C’s Get Degrees
In order to discourage
travel, many colleges and universities canceled some or all planned breaks for
the fall semester. Anna Kittrell, a second year chemical engineering major at
Louisiana State University, lives just off-campus and has been taking classes
remotely. She noted that the lack of time off has made her feel drained and
eager for classes to end.
“With no breaks in the semester,
school has felt like a non-stop, brain-sucking machine,” she said.
While normally an A/B student, Kittrell has
struggled with motivation and taken on the mindset “C’s get degrees.” She said
overall, she hasn’t felt pressure from her professors—who have mostly been
understanding and accommodating—to be more productive this semester.
However, online learning has proven
challenging for Kittrell as someone who learns better in-person and with a more
hands-on approach.
“My professors don’t work
through example problems in class,” Kittrell said. “They put a slide on a
powerpoint with the problem already worked out and then speed through the
explanation of their work. In STEM classes, I learn best by working through the
problems with my professors, so I can understand where all of the numbers and
equations are coming from and what they mean.”
Kittrell has
adjusted the
expectations she has for herself since figuring out that online learning isn’t
for her. Had she not been in a good place mentally heading into the semester,
she said her lower academic performance might have affected her more than it
has.
As an introvert, Kittrell hasn’t been
too impacted by the inability to partake in group social activities. She said
originally, she wanted to step out of her comfort zone this semester by going
to more bars, restaurants, and parties. Instead, Kittrell has taken the time to
focus on bettering herself.
“The pandemic forced me
to dive into the things that I didn’t like about myself and confront the things
that made me unhappy because I spend so much time alone,” she said. “My mental
state is honestly the best it has ever been because I have spent the last few
months choosing to only do things that make me happy.”
Pressure to Be Productive
There is an unspoken
pressure to be hyper-productive to make up for time missed due to the pandemic.
During the first few months of the pandemic, Abigail
Bennethum, a third year public relations and business communications major at
University of Northern Iowa, took on a full-time job and two online courses.
She said she felt like she needed to do something to distract herself and keep
her busy, and having her work to lean on helped a lot.
“I feel so much more
urgency to get everything done,” Bennethum said. “When I get super freaked out
or have anxiety, I just try to slow down, turn my brain off, or take a bath … taking
these little steps of self-care have really helped me understand I don’t need
to freak out all the time.”
At first, Bennethum appreciated the additional
time quarantine freed up for her to do her work. But as a more extroverted
person, the prolonged time without seeing her friends or extended family
“brought a looming sad feeling” over her, especially when her campus housing
shut down and she had to pack up and move home.
This semester, Bennethum is back to
living near campus. When her roommates contracted COVID-19, she said it
strained their relationships while they navigated the difficulties of trying
not to contract the virus herself. Ultimately, she said she thinks the
experience made all of them more cautious.
Bennethum’s courses have been a blend of online
synchronous, online asynchronous, and in-person classes. She enjoys the fact
that she can do most of her work and classes at her own pace. The professors,
administrators, and faculty at her university have done a good job of balancing
safety and normality, she said.
“I do not think I have
ever seen students and professors connect this well,” she said. “Some would say
the opposite, but my professors have gone above and beyond and are consistently
attentive to emails and responding to questions. I think they are trying to
make up [for and] go above what they did before since there is limited time and
there are more barriers.”
Finishing the Semester Strong
As the semester comes to
a close, many students are looking forward to the time off that winter break
brings while also anticipating going back home.
It’s important to get tested before heading back
home and take precautions, such as always wearing a mask when you’re in public
(regardless of state mandates), consistently washing your hands, and getting a
flu shot as soon as possible to help prevent additional sicknesses.
What This Means For You
Although next semester
will likely hold similar challenges as this one, it’s important to prioritize
your mental health above all else.
“This semester has been full of new
experiences and new challenges,” Kittrell said. “School is important, but it is
not the most important thing in the world. Prioritize your mental and physical
health.
Remember that you are not alone; there are people all
over the country and even the world that are experiencing the same things as
you are. Take all the time you need to focus on things that make you happy, and
don’t let these past few months determine the path for your future. Things will
start to look up soon.”
