International Journal of Public Health Science (IJPHS)
Vol 11, No 1: March 2022

Anxiety and depression among university students during the lockdown: their protective and risk factors

Kususanto Ditto Prihadi (USCI University)
Sheng Yee Wan (HELP University)
Valerie Yen Yee Lee (Universiti Sains Malaysia)
Hairul Nizam Ismail (Universiti Sains Malaysia)



Article Info

Publish Date
01 Mar 2022

Abstract

Anxiety and depression among university students were reported to be increased during the outbreak of CoVid-19. Various studies indicated that the phenomenon was triggered by the sudden enforcement of the studying-from-home (SFH) policy. Accordingly, we hypothesized that the students’ online learning efficacy (OLE) predicted the upsurge of the two mental health issues. However, SFH also elevated the students’ inclination towards social media (SM), and it brought further changes in some socio-psychological factors. We recruited 435 university students to respond to demographic items and the scales to measure factors such as perceived social support (PSS), societal mattering, and fear of missing out (FOMO) to test the hypothesis that OLE would no longer be a significant predictor of anxiety and depression when all the aforementioned variables are controlled for. The results of the hierarchical regression analyses supported our hypothesis on anxiety, while in predicting depression, OLE was still significant after controlling for the rest of the predictors. Societal mattering was the strongest protective factor against depression, whereas FOMO was the strongest risk factor of anxiety. Implications, limitations, and suggestions are discussed.

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Journal Info

Abbrev

IJPHS

Publisher

Subject

Health Professions

Description

International Journal of Public Health Science (IJPHS) is an interdisciplinary journal that publishes material on all aspects of public health science. This IJPHS provides the ideal platform for the discussion of more sophisticated public health research and practice for authors and readers world ...