Mental Health Symptoms Among US College Students Before, Early, and Late Into the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Longitudinal Analysis.

Purpose: To study how COVID-19 stress-related factors and changes in psychosocial resources during the pandemic contributed to changes in mental health symptoms among first-year college students during the pandemic.

Methods: Using data on 339 first-year students (ages 18-20) at a large public university in North Carolina, we evaluated changes in anxiety and depression symptoms from before to early and later stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, we estimated longitudinal associations of chronic stress, COVID-19 stress/stressors and psychosocial resources with anxiety and depression symptoms using a first-difference model.

Results: We found that mental health symptoms increased significantly 4 months into the pandemic. Eighteen months into the pandemic, depression symptoms had returned to prepandemic levels, but anxiety symptoms had not. Chronic stress, social isolation, and distanced learning were significant risk factors; resilience was significantly protective. Results varied by the presence/absence of moderate-severe anxiety/depression symptoms prepandemic.

Discussion: Mental health symptoms for first-year college students were at already high levels prepandemic and have not improved 18 months into the pandemic. Colleges may help address this growing mental health crisis through bolstering social connectedness and resilience.