Page 41 - JCBP-3-2

Journal of Clinical and

Basic Psychosomatics

ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE
Mental health status and influencing factors

among Chinese college students in the
post-COVID-19 pandemic period

1,2
1,2
1,2
Zhen Huang 1,2† , Jiangli Hu 1,2† , Jia Li , Zhili Zou , Zuxing Wang ,
Yunqiong Wang 1,2† *, and Jingyi Fan 1,2† *
1 Sichuan Provincial Center for Mental Health, Sichuan Academy of Medical Sciences and Sichuan
Provincial People’s Hospital, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
2 Key Laboratory of Psychosomatic Medicine, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Chengdu,
Sichuan, China

Abstract

After almost 3 years of battling against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
pandemic, the static infection prevention had evolved to a dynamic management
† These authors contributed equally model at the end of 2022. However, the considerable rebound from pandemic in
to this work.
some areas is generally accompanied by increasing public pressure and depression.
*Corresponding authors: Hence, we investigated the impacts of the pandemic on the mental health
Yunqiong Wang
(wangyunqiong1972@163.com) and sleep quality of college students in China by conducting a cross-sectional
Jingyi Fang survey on undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students (n = 1105) through
(18030511208@163.com) the Questionnaire Star survey platform. Demographic data, COVID-19-related
Citation: Huang Z, Hu J, Li J, et al. stressors, information from four standardized scales (namely anxiety, depression,
Mental health status and influencing stress, and sleep), and other information were gathered through the survey.
factors among Chinese college
students in the post-COVID-19 A total of 1120 questionnaires were collected, of which 1105 met the inclusion
pandemic period. J Clin Basic criteria. Most respondents were medical students (64%), and almost all of them
Psychosom. 2025;3(2):35-46. had received the COVID-19 vaccine (99%). More people had been infected with
doi: 10.36922/jcbp.2139
COVID-19 (75%), with 33% showing mild to severe anxiety. A total of 54% of
Received: October 30, 2023 the respondents had mild to severe depression, 70% had moderate to severe
Revised: March 22, 2024 perceived stress, and 28% had sleep disturbances. Further, analysis showed that
the level of mental health was correlated with sleep. In addition, respondents
Accepted: July 4, 2024
from the medical specialty experienced more severe depression and anxiety
Published online: November 6, (P < 0.01), and the increase in stress after the outbreak, in terms of anxiety
2024
and depression, became significantly more pronounced (P < 0.001). After the
Copyright: © 2024 Author(s). lifting of COVID-19 restrictions, the mental health level of college students was
This is an Open-Access article affected to some extent. The COVID-19 cases surge in some areas also resulted in
distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution psychological pressure and negative mental health among college students to a
License, permitting distribution, large extent even after the easing of COVID-19 restrictions. Despite the exigency
and reproduction in any medium, to address the COVID-19 cases, attention must also be focused on the associated
provided the original work is
properly cited. mental health problems, which require more systematic resolution from relevant
authorities or departments.
Publisher’s Note: AccScience
Publishing remains neutral with
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional Keywords: COVID-19; Mental health; Anxiety depression; College students; Stress
affiliations.

Volume 3 Issue 2 (2025) 35 doi: 10.36922/jcbp.2139