The impact of lockdown stress and loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health among university students in Germany

Abstract

AbstractThe COVID-19 pandemic led to a shutdown of universities in Germany. In a longitudinal design, we compared mental health (depression, anxiety, somatic complaints) of university students in Germany before (June to August 2019) and in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic (June 2020) and determined the impact of pandemic-related stress and loneliness on students’ mental health in self-report online surveys. We investigated 443 participants (mean age 22.8 years), among them 77% female, and 10.4% medical students. A small increase of depression mean scores was observed (F(1,420) = 5.21; p = .023), anxiety and somatic complaints have not significantly changed. There was a medium increase in loneliness from pre-pandemic scores to the pandemic situation (F(1,423) = 30.56; p < .001). Analyzed with regression analyses, current loneliness and pre-pandemic distress represented the strongest associations with mental health during the pandemic. Additionally, health-related concerns during the pandemic were associated with symptoms of depression [b = 0.21; 95%CI(0.08; 0.34); t = 3.12; p = .002], anxiety [b = 0.07; 95%CI(0.01; 0.12); t = 2.50; p = .013], somatic complaints [b = 0.33; 95%CI(0.18; 0.47); t = 4.49; p < .001], and loneliness [b = 0.10; 95%CI(0.03; 0.17); t = 2.74; p = .006]. Social stress due to the pandemic situation was associated with loneliness [b = 0.38; 95%CI(0.32; 0.45); t = 11.75; p < .001]. The results imply that university students represent a risk group for psychosocial long-term ramifications of the pandemic.

Autoren

Antonia M Werner
Ana N Tibubos
Lina M Mülder
Jennifer L Reichel
Markus Schäfer
Sebastian Heller
Daniel Pfirrmann
Dennis Edelmann
Pavel Dietz
Thomas Rigotti
Manfred E Beutel

DOI

10.1038/s41598-021-02024-5

eISSN

2045-2322

Ausgabe der Veröffentlichung

1

Zeitschrift

Scientific Reports

Sprache

en

Artikelnummer

22637

Online publication date

2021

Status

Published online

Herausgeber

Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Herausgeber URL

http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-02024-5

Datum der Datenerfassung

2022

Titel

The impact of lockdown stress and loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health among university students in Germany

Ausgabe der Zeitschrift

11

Datenquelle: Crossref

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic led to a shutdown of universities in Germany. In a longitudinal design, we compared mental health (depression, anxiety, somatic complaints) of university students in Germany before (June to August 2019) and in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic (June 2020) and determined the impact of pandemic-related stress and loneliness on students' mental health in self-report online surveys. We investigated 443 participants (mean age 22.8 years), among them 77% female, and 10.4% medical students. A small increase of depression mean scores was observed (F(1,420) = 5.21; p = .023), anxiety and somatic complaints have not significantly changed. There was a medium increase in loneliness from pre-pandemic scores to the pandemic situation (F(1,423) = 30.56; p < .001). Analyzed with regression analyses, current loneliness and pre-pandemic distress represented the strongest associations with mental health during the pandemic. Additionally, health-related concerns during the pandemic were associated with symptoms of depression [b = 0.21; 95%CI(0.08; 0.34); t = 3.12; p = .002], anxiety [b = 0.07; 95%CI(0.01; 0.12); t = 2.50; p = .013], somatic complaints [b = 0.33; 95%CI(0.18; 0.47); t = 4.49; p < .001], and loneliness [b = 0.10; 95%CI(0.03; 0.17); t = 2.74; p = .006]. Social stress due to the pandemic situation was associated with loneliness [b = 0.38; 95%CI(0.32; 0.45); t = 11.75; p < .001]. The results imply that university students represent a risk group for psychosocial long-term ramifications of the pandemic.

Addresses

Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Untere Zahlbacher Str. 8, 55131, Mainz, Germany. Antonia.Werner@unimedizin-mainz.de.

Autoren

Antonia M Werner
Ana N Tibubos
Lina M Mülder
Jennifer L Reichel
Markus Schäfer
Sebastian Heller
Daniel Pfirrmann
Dennis Edelmann
Pavel Dietz
Thomas Rigotti
Manfred E Beutel

DOI

10.1038/s41598-021-02024-5

eISSN

2045-2322

Externe Identifier

PubMed Identifier: 34811422
PubMed Central ID: PMC8609027

Funding acknowledgements

Universitätsmedizin der Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz:
The research derived from the project Healthy Campus Mainz, which is funded by BARMER health insurance, Johannes Gutenberg University (JGU) Mainz and the University Medical Center of the JGU Mainz.:

Open access

true

ISSN

2045-2322

Ausgabe der Veröffentlichung

1

Zeitschrift

Scientific reports

Schlüsselwörter

Humans
Longitudinal Studies
Depression
Stress, Psychological
Social Isolation
Anxiety
Loneliness
Mental Health
Sex Distribution
Quarantine
Time Factors
Students
Universities
Adult
Germany
Female
Male
Young Adult
Self Report
Pandemics
Surveys and Questionnaires
COVID-19

Sprache

eng

Medium

Electronic

Online publication date

2021

Open access status

Open Access

Paginierung

22637

Datum der Veröffentlichung

2021

Status

Published

Publisher licence

CC BY

Datum der Datenerfassung

2021

Titel

The impact of lockdown stress and loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health among university students in Germany.

Sub types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
research-article
Journal Article

Ausgabe der Zeitschrift

11

Files

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-02024-5.pdf https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC8609027?pdf=render

Datenquelle: Europe PubMed Central

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic led to a shutdown of universities in Germany. In a longitudinal design, we compared mental health (depression, anxiety, somatic complaints) of university students in Germany before (June to August 2019) and in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic (June 2020) and determined the impact of pandemic-related stress and loneliness on students' mental health in self-report online surveys. We investigated 443 participants (mean age 22.8 years), among them 77% female, and 10.4% medical students. A small increase of depression mean scores was observed (F(1,420) = 5.21; p = .023), anxiety and somatic complaints have not significantly changed. There was a medium increase in loneliness from pre-pandemic scores to the pandemic situation (F(1,423) = 30.56; p < .001). Analyzed with regression analyses, current loneliness and pre-pandemic distress represented the strongest associations with mental health during the pandemic. Additionally, health-related concerns during the pandemic were associated with symptoms of depression [b = 0.21; 95%CI(0.08; 0.34); t = 3.12; p = .002], anxiety [b = 0.07; 95%CI(0.01; 0.12); t = 2.50; p = .013], somatic complaints [b = 0.33; 95%CI(0.18; 0.47); t = 4.49; p < .001], and loneliness [b = 0.10; 95%CI(0.03; 0.17); t = 2.74; p = .006]. Social stress due to the pandemic situation was associated with loneliness [b = 0.38; 95%CI(0.32; 0.45); t = 11.75; p < .001]. The results imply that university students represent a risk group for psychosocial long-term ramifications of the pandemic.

Date of acceptance

2021

Autoren

Antonia M Werner
Ana N Tibubos
Lina M Mülder
Jennifer L Reichel
Markus Schäfer
Sebastian Heller
Daniel Pfirrmann
Dennis Edelmann
Pavel Dietz
Thomas Rigotti
Manfred E Beutel

Autoren-URL

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34811422

DOI

10.1038/s41598-021-02024-5

eISSN

2045-2322

Externe Identifier

PubMed Central ID: PMC8609027

Ausgabe der Veröffentlichung

1

Zeitschrift

Sci Rep

Schlüsselwörter

Adult
Anxiety
COVID-19
Depression
Female
Germany
Humans
Loneliness
Longitudinal Studies
Male
Mental Health
Pandemics
Quarantine
Self Report
Sex Distribution
Social Isolation
Stress, Psychological
Students
Surveys and Questionnaires
Time Factors
Universities
Young Adult

Sprache

eng

Country

England

Paginierung

22637

PII

10.1038/s41598-021-02024-5

Datum der Veröffentlichung

2021

Status

Published online

Datum, an dem der Datensatz öffentlich gemacht wurde

2021

Titel

The impact of lockdown stress and loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health among university students in Germany.

Sub types

Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Ausgabe der Zeitschrift

11

Datenquelle: PubMed

Author's licence

CC-BY

Autoren

Antonia Maria Werner
Ana Nanette Tibubos
Lina Marie Mülder
Jennifer L Reichel
Markus Schäfer
Sebastian Heller
Daniel Pfirrmann
Dennis Edelmann
Pavel Dietz
Thomas Rigotti
Manfred E Beutel

Hosting institution

Universitätsbibliothek Mainz

Sammlungen

JGU-Publikationen

Resource version

Published version

DOI

10.1038/s41598-021-02024-5

File(s) embargoed

false

Open access

true

ISSN

2045-2322

Zeitschrift

Scientific reports

Schlüsselwörter

150 Psychologie
150 Psychology
610 Medizin
610 Medical sciences

Sprache

eng

Open access status

Open Access

Paginierung

22637

Datum der Veröffentlichung

2021

Public URL

https://openscience.ub.uni-mainz.de/handle/20.500.12030/7554

Herausgeber

Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature

Datum der Datenerfassung

2022

Datum, an dem der Datensatz öffentlich gemacht wurde

2022

Zugang

Public

Titel

The impact of lockdown stress and loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health among university students in Germany

Ausgabe der Zeitschrift

11

Files

the_impact_of_lockdown_stress-20220809111648311.pdf

Datenquelle: OPENSCIENCE.UB

The impact of lockdown stress and loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health among university students in Germany

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