Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on student’ sleep patterns, sexual activity, screen use, and food intake: A global survey

Abstract

Background The education sector experienced substantial impacts during the COVID-19 pandemic resulting from worldwide restrictions. Purpose To examine differences in the sleep patterns, sexual activity, screen use, and food intake of students and non-students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods This was a global cross-sectional study conducted in the second half of 2020 using multiple social media platforms to recruit study participants globally. A close-ended questionnaire was administered anonymously in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Arabic to adults ages 18 and older. The outcome variables considered in analyses were changes in sleep pattern, sexual activity, screen use, and food intake. The explanatory variable was student status categorized as students vs. non-student. T-test, chi-square, and Mann Whitney U tests were used to assess differences between student and non-student populations. One logistic regression model was built for each outcome variable. Country of residence and country income level were included in the adjusted models. Results There were 17,008 participants of which 3,793 (22.3%) were students. Of the total sample, 4,889 (28.7%) reported changes in sleep, 4,642 (31.8%) reported increases in sexual activity, 10,278 (70.7%) reported increases in screen use, and 5,662 (40.2%) reported increases in food intake during the pandemic. Compared to non-students, students had significantly higher odds of reporting changes in sleep (AOR = 1.52), increases in sexual activity (AOR = 1.79), and increases in screen use (AOR = 1.36) but lower odds of reporting increase in food intake (AOR = 0.87). Conclusion Students displayed higher risk of experiencing changes in sleep, sexual behavior, and screen use during the COVID-19 pandemic. This has the potential to lead to broader adverse effects on students’ overall wellbeing. The findings and implications raise further obligations on the education sector to put extra-curricular support systems in place that address COVID-19 related behavior changes that have the potential to adversely impact students’ wellbeing.

Rasch Modeling and Multilevel Confirmatory Factor Analysis for the Usability of the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…From December 2019 to 5th September 2022, a total of 600,366,479 have been confirmed to be infected with the COVID-19 pandemic; among them, 6,460,493 died, as reported by the WHO [ 8 ]. Despite vaccination, further course of the COVID-19 pandemic is uncertain, and pandemic-induced stress has resulted in significant psychological repercussions [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ]. In the literature, a number of studies tried to measure such post-traumatic psychological repercussions using the IES-R, a self-administered scale to assess PTSD after a traumatic event through measuring the symptoms of intrusion, avoidance, and hyperarousal [ 5 , 47 , 49 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 ].…”

“…Therefore, it is clear from the statistics that although vaccinations and precautions have been taken over the world, the future course seems uncertain [ 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 ]. Pandemic-induced stress has resulted in significant socio-economic and psychological repercussions [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 ].…”

Validation of a COVID-19 mental health and wellness survey questionnaire

“…This questionnaire not only captures the possible multidimensional impact of the pandemic on mental health, but also includes parameters that can capture the experiences of subgroups that may be neglected like people living with HIV. The pandemic seems to affect the mental health and wellness of different populations in different ways as studies in Nigeria [53][54][55], and other global studies indicate [56,57].…”

A qualitative exploration of university students’ perspectives on distance education in Jordan: An application of Moore’s theory of transactional distance

“…It has been over two years since the greatest global disruption of education due to the coronavirus disease-2019 crisis. Most campuses of various educational institutes were closed and switched to online distance education mode, starting a new era in educational history (Barakat et al, 2022;Ellakany et al, 2022;Mohammed et al, 2022). Developed countries were more prepared for the unprecedented transition in many terms, such as quality of internet services, technical competencies of instructors, and the experience in online education during the pre-pandemic era.…”