Citation

Savage MJ, Hennis PJ, Magistro D, Donaldson J, Healy LC, James RM. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021; 18(6).

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, MDPI: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute)

DOI

10.3390/ijerph18062930

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Initial studies indicated that student mental health was impaired during the early stages of the pandemic and that maintaining/improving physical activity gave some protection from mental illness. However, as the pandemic persists, these data may not reflect current circumstances and may have been confounded by exam stress.

METHODS: This study used an online survey to assess the changes in, and associations between, mental health and movement behaviours in 255 UK university students from before the COVID-19 pandemic (October 2019) to 9 months following the UK's first confirmed case (October 2020). Changes in and associations between mental wellbeing, perceived stress, physical activity, and sedentary behaviour were assessed using a mixed model ANOVA; a multiple linear regression model determined the predictive value of variables associated with Δ mental wellbeing.

RESULTS: Mental wellbeing and physical activity decreased (45.2 to 42.3 (p < 0.001); 223 to 173 min/week (p < 0.001)), whereas perceived stress and time spent sedentary increased (19.8 to 22.8 (p < 0.001); 66.0 to 71.2 h/week (p = 0.036)). Δ perceived stress, Δ sedentary behaviour and university year accounted for 64.7%, 12.9%, and 10.1% of the variance in Δ mental wellbeing (p < 0.001; p = 0.006; p = 0.035).

CONCLUSION: The COVID-19 pandemic is having a sustained negative impact on student mental health and movement behaviour.

Language: en

Keywords

student; mental health; physical activity; COVID-19; pandemic; sedentary behaviour