Mental health impacts in Argentinean college students during COVID-19 quarantine

Background: We aimed to: (1) analyze differences in both general (in terms of psychological well-being/discomfort, social functioning and coping, and psychological distress) and specific (depression, trait-anxiety, negative alcohol-related consequences, and suicidal risk) mental health state (MHS) i...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: López Steinmetz, Lorena Cecilia, Leyes, Candela Abigail, Dutto Florio, María Agustina, Fong, Shao Bing, López Steinmetz, Romina Lucrecia, Godoy, Juan Carlos
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:Argentina
Institución:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
Repositorio:CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/135102
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/11336/135102
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:ANXIETY
CORONAVIRUS DISEASE
COVID-19
DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS
LEARNED HELPLESSNESS
QUARANTINE
SOCIAL ISOLATION
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/5.1
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/5
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/3.3
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/3
Descripción
Sumario:Background: We aimed to: (1) analyze differences in both general (in terms of psychological well-being/discomfort, social functioning and coping, and psychological distress) and specific (depression, trait-anxiety, negative alcohol-related consequences, and suicidal risk) mental health state (MHS) in college students, residing in four different Argentinean regions (center, north, south, and the most populated) exposed to different spread-rates of the COVID-19; (2) analyze between-group differences in both general and specific MHS indicators at four quarantine sub-periods (twice prior, and twice following the first quarantine extension). Methods: We used a cross-sectional design with a convenience sample including 2,687 college students. Data was collected online during the Argentinean quarantine. We calculated one-way between-groups ANOVA with Tukey's post hoc test. Results: Regionally, the center and the most populated area differed in psychological well-being/discomfort and negative alcohol-related consequences, but not in the remaining MHS indicators. According to the quarantine sub-periods, there were differences in psychological well-being/discomfort, social functioning and coping, psychological distress, and negative alcohol-related consequences. Negative alcohol-related consequences were the only MHS indicator improving over time. For all of the remaining MHS indicators, we found a similar deterioration pattern in the course of time, with mean scores decreasing from the first to the 2nd week of the quarantine pre-extensions, then increasing toward the 1st week of the quarantine post-extension (with some MHS indicators reaching mean scores worse than the start), and then continued to increase. Conclusion: A worsened mean MHS during quarantine suggests that quarantine and its extensions contribute to negative mental health impacts.