The role of sociodemographics, behavioral factors, and internet use behaviors in students' psychological health amid COVID‐19 pandemic in Bangladesh

Abstract

Background The COVID‐19 pandemic drastically impacted students' psychological well‐being by interchanging their regular activities. Students are more engaged with online activities, which may affect their mental health. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate the magnitude of psychological health of the Bangladeshi students, where the role of online use behaviors is also investigated. Methods An online‐based cross‐sectional survey was conducted between 7 October 2020 and 2 November, 2020 among Bangladeshi students utilizing a convenience sampling technique. The survey questionnaire included items concerning sociodemographics, behavior and health‐related variables, online use behaviors, Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ‐2), and Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD‐2). Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to present the data (i.e., binary logistic regression was performed to examine the association between variables and hierarchical regression analysis was performed to predict the variance for depression and anxiety). Results Out of 601 included students, 260 and 196 students reported the symptoms of depression (43.3%) and anxiety (32.6%), respectively, where female students experienced a higher level of psychological problems. The psychological suffering was also significantly associated with medical college students, having an affair, less sleep time, not performing physical exercise, excessive internet use, and not watching news during online activities. After adjusting all of the studied variables in the hierarchical regression models, it explained 10% and 9.6% variance of depression and anxiety, respectively. Conclusions During this pandemic situation, a relatively higher level of psychological complications was observed among the Bangladeshi students. Regrettably, any specific policy was absent in the country to assuage that outcome. Therefore, based on the study finding, a few strategies and policies were recommended that may be helpful to alleviate psychological issues among the students.

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