Impacts of COVID-19 lockdowns on university students’ lifestyles: do age and gender matter?

Abstract

The pandemic has had a significant impact on many aspects of students’ lives, including their lifestyles. This article presents findings from a quantitative survey conducted among 381 university students which aimed to evaluate the effects of COVID-19 lockdowns on the students’ lifestyle choices and examine the relationships between age, gender and related lifestyle characteristics. The results indicated notable changes in university students’ daily routines during the pandemic with heightened engagement in digital activities such as social networking, movie and series watching, and gaming. Their appetites and alcohol consumption increased. Some students experienced physical and psychological exhaustion, loneliness, depression and sleep problems. The research results showed relationships between age and regular engagement in sports, social media usage, movie and series watching, gaming, weight loss, and feelings of loneliness and depression. Despite students’ concerns about being socially isolated, support from their families helped them cope with the challenges brought about by the pandemic. A crucial finding is that most students reported being satisfied with the shift to distance learning, confirming that it could be a viable alternative for education. Enhanced understanding of these relationships is vital for higher education institutions to be able to improve students’ learning satisfaction, well-being and academic performance.

Keywords

• COVID-19 lockdowns
• distance learning
• higher education institutions
• university students
• lifestyle changes
• I12