Depressive symptoms in higher education students during the COVID-19 pandemic: the role of containment measures

Students are a vulnerable group for the indirect impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly their mental health. This paper examined the cross-national variation in students' depressive feelings and whether this can be related to the various protective measures implemented in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Methods

Student data stem from the COVID-19 International Student Well-being Study, covering 26 countries during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Country-level data on government responses to the COVID-19 pandemic were retrieved from the Oxford COVID-19 Tracker. Multilevel analyses were performed to estimate the impact of the containment and economic support measures on students' depressive feelings (n = 78 312).

Results School and workplace closures, and stay-at-home restrictions were positively related to students' depressive feelings during the COVID-19 pandemic, while none of the economic support measures significantly related to depresssion. Countries' scores on the index of these containment measures explained 1.5% of the cross-national variation in students' depressive feelings (5.3%). This containment index's effect was stable, even when controlling for the economic support index, students' characteristics, and countries' epidemiological context and economic conditions.

Conclusions Our findings raise concerns about the potential adverse effects of existing containment measures (especially the closure of schools and workplaces and stay-at-home restrictions) on students' mental health.