Mental health during COVID-19: College students’ need for structure

Abstract

Objective: College students made the unprecedented shift to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, potentially contributing to escalating anxiety, depression, and suicide. This loss of structure may be a driving factor in students’ distress. We examined the relationship between students’ mental health, perceived need for structure, and five stressors related to COVID-19. Participants: Students (N = 1319, 76.3% female, 79.8% White) at a southeastern university responded to a survey in spring 2020. Methods: Participants answered questions about global anxiety and depression, suicide, perceived need for structure, and COVID-19 related stressors. Results: Participants reported increased anxiety and depression and elevated suicidality compared to previous studies of student mental health. Findings indicated that the stressors and lack of structure added unique variance toward predicting anxiety and depression. Conclusions: As COVID-19’s consequences persist, counseling centers and other stakeholders are urged to work together in providing support for students’ mental wellness and stress management.

Keywords:

• College stressors
• college students
• COVID-19
• mental health
• need for structure scale

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of United States and received approval from the Institutional Review Board of University of North Georgia.

Notes

1 A regression analysis that incorporated the demographic variables as covariates was conducted, but this process did not produce substantially different outcomes. Therefore, the version without covariates is presented here.