Social support, psychological responses, and mental health among college students during online learning

ABSTRACT

The study purpose is to analyze changes in the mental health structure and its disorders among students who receive online education. The research involved 23 students (6 boys and 17 girls, average age 18 years). The study covers the period from October 2019 to September 2020. The participating students underwent the assessment using a Telegram before and after quarantine when they studied under the conventional full-time program. Additionally, they were tested during the lockdown due to the COVID-19 when they received online training. The results showed that study participants did not experience stress, depression, or anxiety before switching to online training. However, shifting to online learning mode, students under study experienced an increase in the stress level by 55.4%. Moreover, the study also showed that the stress level among students increased after returning from online to full-time training. However, the indicators had a lesser extent (by 40.2%, p = 0.0031). During online training, the number of students who did not experience stress and students with a mild stress level decreased. Meantime, students who faced stress reactions increased four times (p = 0.029). However, the study did not indicate any significant changes in anxiety levels among students.

KEYWORDS:

• Anxiety
• depression
• mental health
• online education
• stress
• students

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Data will be available on request.

Additional information

Funding

Research topic on employment and Entrepreneurship of College and technical Secondary School graduates in Henan Province: A study on the mental health status of deaf graduates and its relationship with coping style and social support – a case study of deaf graduates of Zhengzhou Institute of Engineering and Technology. The current study was supported by Research Center for Integrated Development of Industry and Education of Application-Oriented Institutes in Huanghuai College, Key Research Base of Humanities and Social Sciences in Henan Province.

Notes on contributors

Zhen Wei

Zhen Wei is a Master, Associate Professor at the Student Affairs Office of Luoyang Polytechnic in Luoyang, Henan, China. Zhen’s research interests include psychology, mental health of college students, online learning and social support in its process etc.