First-Year College Students' Mental Health in the Post-COVID-19 Era in Guangxi, China: A Study Demands-Resources Model Perspective

Abstract

The post-COVID-19 era means that the COVID-19 is basically under control; however, the risk of the pandemic still affects people's work, study, and life, physically and psychologically. In this era, due to the more challenges first-year college students face, more attention should be paid to their mental health. An emerging study demands-resources (SD-R) model can explain the influencing mechanism of college students' mental health. This model suggests that study demands increase the risk of student burnout, which results in mental health problems; meanwhile, study resources reduce student burnout and increase student engagement, thus improving mental health. Based on the SD-R model, this study explores the impacts of time pressure, emotional exhaustion, perceived social support, and student engagement on mental health and provides adequate measures to reduce the risk of mental health problems among first-year students. Time pressure, perceived social support, emotional exhaustion, student engagement, and mental health scales were used to investigate 537 first-year students at three universities in Guangxi, China, of whom 290 (54%) were female, and 247 (46%) were male, and the average age was 18.97 ± 1.01. Results indicated that: (1) Moderate scores on time pressure and emotional exhaustion and slightly-above-the-median scores on perceived social support, student engagement, and mental health were found among first-year students in the post-COVID-19 era. (2) Time pressure had a positive relationship with emotional exhaustion and a negative relationship with mental health. (3) Perceived social support was negatively correlated with emotional exhaustion but positively correlated with student engagement, and thus improved mental health. Results of this study with a sample of first-year college students in China support the hypotheses based on the SD-R model. These findings suggest that increasing perceived social support and student engagement while decreasing time pressure and emotional exhaustion may promote mental health among first-year college students.

Gender Differences of University Students in the Online Teaching Quality and Psychological Profile during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Not only because it is more effective for the learning process, but also because a network of relationships can be generated that facilitates integration and confidence in oneself and colleagues [ 39 , 40 ]. Studies in this line of work showed that there is a significant decrease in the quality of emotional and affective implications, due to the lack of face-to-face communication between students and, therefore, the loss of quality of relationships between people (student–student or student–instructor) in a more solitary online environment that requires a higher level of development [ 41 ]. The challenges students faced during this period, such as study demands, time pressure, emotional exhaustion, perceived social support, or student engagement, may explain the influencing mechanism of students’ mental health and this impact on the perceived difficulty to learn during the face-to-face classes.…”

The effect of teacher support on Chinese university students’ sustainable online learning engagement and online academic persistence in the post-epidemic era

“…Engagement in learning is widely defined as the level of energy, focus, and dedication an individual exhibits when engaged in learning activities ( Wei et al, 2022 ). Based on these definitions, this study adapted Schaufeli et al’s (2002) Work Engagement Questionnaire (WE), with nine questions, to assess the engagement of university students in online sustainable learning during the post-epidemic period.…”

“…Study resources include environmental resources (e.g., perceived teacher support, classroom climate, etc. ), personal resources (e.g., academic self-efficacy and psychological resilience), and learning behaviors including learning engagement ( Wei et al, 2022 ). Thus, PTS can be considered as an environmental resource, OAS-E and academic emotions can be considered as personal resources, and SOLE and OAP can be considered as learning outcomes and behaviors.…”

“…According to the SD-R model theory, environmental resources such as social, teacher, and family support can better support students’ development ( Wei et al, 2022 ), while teacher support, as an important social resource, plays a crucial role in promoting student behavior and development and can be more involved in course learning by stimulating students’ positive emotions ( Lei et al, 2018 ). Furthermore, research has found that teacher support is significantly related with positive academic emotions and that students who perceive greater teacher support have greater positive emotions such as liking, enjoyment, and hope, which continue to influence their effectiveness in course learning ( Sadoughi and Hejazi, 2021 ).…”

“…Study resources can therefore influence not only students’ motivation but also their learning behaviors and outcomes ( Robins et al, 2015 ). Researchers have also explored the relationship between learning engagement and psychological well-being among university students based on the SD-R model and found that more study resources can influence students’ individual resources, which in turn affects aspects of their psychological well-being ( Wei et al, 2022 ). Related research has found that students may be more actively engaged in course learning with teacher support and engage in learning activities with a higher sense of academic self-efficacy ( Lauermann and ten Hagen, 2021 ).…”