Mental Health of College Students During the COVID-19 Epidemic in China
Introduction
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was first reported in Wuhan, Hubei, China and is
now rapidly spreading around the world, posing a substantial threat to the health of people. As of
June 22, 2020, the WHO had reported 8,860,331 laboratory-confirmed cases, and 465,740 deaths
globally, with cases of the virus and the death toll still increasing (World Health Organization). In
addition to causing physical damage, COVID-19 has also caused unbearable psychological pressure
to people in China and the rest of the world (Xiao, 2020). Recent research showed that during the
COVID-19 epidemic, mental health problems such as fear, anxiety and depression were common
among the general public, patients, medical staff, children, and older adults (Yuchen Li et al., 2020).
Due to the continuous spread of the epidemic, the Chinese government implemented
nationwide school closures. So far, the infection has caused 150 countrywide school suspensions
globally and has affected 1,186,127,211 students (UNESCO). The need to protect the mental health
of college students during confinement is warranted, however, to our knowledge, research focused
on the psychological status of college students in China during the epidemic is limited. Given the
dearth of existing research, the current study aimed to examine the mental health of 89,588 college
students during the COVID-19 epidemic in China and to offer some theoretical evidence for
psychological intervention of college students.
Methods
Sample and data collection
The current cross-sectional survey was conducted from May 10, 2020 to June 10, 2020.
Twenty-one colleges were selected by a convenience sampling technique. The study was approved
by the Research Ethics Committee of Hainan Medical University in Haikou, China. The
Questionnaire Star (https://www.wjx.cn) was used to collect data online using an anonymous, self-
rated questionnaire that was distributed to all selected colleges. All participants provided electronic
informed consent prior to registration. To avoid the same participant repeatedly answering the
questionnaire, each device (e.g. mobile phone or computer) was eligible to answer only once and
logic checks were concurrently running in the background to identify invalid questionnaires. The
answers to all valid questionnaires were automatically loaded into a data file and checked by two
independent researchers. A total of 89,588 college students were surveyed. The online
questionnaires included general demographic characteristics, concerns about COVID-19, the impact
of COVID-19 on life, social support, and anxiety symptoms.
Measurements
GAD-Anxiety Screening Scale
Anxiety symptoms were measured by the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-Item Scale (GAD-
7). GAD-7 is a seven-item anxiety scale developed by Spitzer et al. (Benjamin et al., 2014), with a
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