Changes in the Anxiety of Moscow Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

This work is devoted to assessing the changes in anxiety among Moscow students during the COVID-2019 pandemic. The material was collected in comprehensive examination of 18–25-year-old students studying at Lomonosov Moscow State University (residents of Moscow and the Moscow region). The study included longitudinal and cross-sectional components. The methodology included a social questionnaire about the peculiarities of the self-isolation regime, living conditions of the respondent, professional employment, etc. and the scale of situational and personal anxiety of C.D. Spielberger in the Russian-language adaptation of Yu.L. Khanin. A total of 284 questionnaires have been analyzed. In 2020, two consecutive waves of infection were recorded in Russia: in May and in December. During the first wave, severe social restrictions and a temporary lockdown were introduced in Moscow, and the second one took place under conditions of significantly less restrictions, although it was marked by a large number of infections. Different social load and adaptation to the pandemic led to the fact that the behavioral manifestations of stress and the level of situational anxiety among Moscow students increased significantly at the beginning of the pandemic, but subsequently began to decrease. It can be concluded that among university students there is a social and psychological adaptation to new norms of life, which are dictated by the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic.