Investigating the Psychological Consequences of Coronavirus Epidemic in Iranian College Students: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

COVID-19 as an infectious disease has been declared the sixth public health emergency of international concern. The disease caused not only the risk of death from the virus's rapid spread but also severe psychological consequences. The aim of the current study is to investigate the psychological impact of the coronavirus epidemic among college students. the study is a descriptive correlational study. The study was conducted in the summer of 2020 and a total sample of 801 participants recruited from universities all over Iran answered online questioners of Depression anxiety stress scale-21 (DASS-21), Generalized anxiety disorder scale-7 (GAD-7), coronavirus anxiety scale, and demographic information. To analyze the data, chi-square, independent T, and variance analysis were used. The results showed that the mean of coronavirus anxiety was 13.77, the mean of anxiety was 6.83, the mean of stress was 6.68, also, the mean of generalized anxiety was 4.85 and finally the mean of depression was equal to 5.54. The results also showed that general anxiety and generalized anxiety were able to predict coronavirus anxiety among study participants. Also, results of the T-test and ANOVA revealed that individuals who had a contact history with the virus, or one of their family members was infected showed more severe levels of anxiety in comparison with individuals who had not. Moreover, participants who lived with friends experienced more anxiety symptoms (p< 0.001). the findings of the present study showed that COVID-19 caused public, psychological problems which are more severe in individuals who had a history or contact (through their family) with coronavirus or lived with their friends.

Keywords

• college students
• corona anxiety
• covid-19
• depression
• distress
• generalized anxiety