Depression, anxiety and stress symptoms in Brazilian university students during the COVID-19 pandemic: Predictors and association with life satisfaction, psychological well-being and coping strategies

Abstract

Background The COVID-19 pandemic raises concerns about the mental health of the world population. Protection measures to prevention the disease impacted education and undergraduate students were exposed to additional stressors. Objectives Analyze depression, anxiety and stress symptoms in undergraduates, their respective predictors and the association with satisfaction with life, psychological well-being and coping strategies. Methods An online cross-sectional study was conducted from September 14 to October 19, 2020, involving undergraduate students enrolled in 33 courses from 5 public university campuses in the state of Parana, Brazil, using: questionnaire with sociodemographic, academic, health and pandemic effects variables; Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21); Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS); Psychological Well-Being (PWB); BriefCOPE. The convenience sample was composed of 1,224 participants, with 18 years old or older, that completed all research instruments. Spearman correlation and logistic analysis (univariate and multivariate) were applied to the collected data. Results Most of the undergraduates presented symptoms of depression (60.5%), anxiety (52.5%) and stress (57.5%). Depression, anxiety and stress presented significant correlations in common: negative with satisfaction with life, all dimensions of psychological well-being, and 3 adaptive copings (active coping, planning, positive reframing); positive with 5 maladaptive copings (behavioral disengagement, denial, self-blame, self-distraction, substance use). In addition, there were 7 common predictors for symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress: female; age 18–24 years old; having a chronic disease; lower scores in 2 dimensions of psychological well-being (positive relations with others, self-acceptance); higher scores in 2 maladaptive copings (self-blame, substance use). Conclusions The data indicate a high prevalence of symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress, and suggest that higher scores of satisfaction with life, psychological well-being dimensions and adaptive copings may present protective effects in undergraduates during a pandemic crisis.

Problematic Mobile Phone Use and Life Satisfaction Among University Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Shanghai, China

“…This study found a negative association between excessive mobile phone use and life satisfaction, suggesting a link between PMPU and lower life satisfaction. While the mechanism and causality are unclear, some studies reported significant association between excessive mobile phone use and poor sleep quality, insomnia (28)(29)(30), depression and anxiety (6,31), all of which may be linked to poor life satisfaction or quality of life (QOL) (32)(33)(34). Similar findings between PMPU and life satisfaction have been reported by other studies.…”

Optimization of an Inclusion Body-Based Production of the Influenza Virus Neuraminidase in Escherichia coli

“…However, accumulation of recombinant protein in inclusion bodies may be an advantage. They contain a high proportion of target protein and at the same time fewer undesirable proteins [ 40 , 41 , 42 ]. The optimization of recombinant proteins expressed in this form is relatively rare, but may represent a promising strategy for various insoluble proteins produced by E. coli [ 35 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 ].…”

Gender Difference in the Relationship of Physical Activity and Subjective Happiness Among Chinese University Students

“… Ochnik et al (2021) surveyed 2,349 students in nine countries through Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), to demonstrate that female was a credible predictor for GAD-7 and PHQ-8 scores. Another survey in 1,224 Brazilian university students also showed that female predictors for symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress according to DASS-21 ( Lopes and Nihei, 2021 ). A study in 515 Malaysian university students demonstrates that female students scored significantly higher in DASS-21 ( Pang et al, 2021 ).…”