Psychological impact on Mexican university students due to confinement during the Covid-19 pandemic

Abstract

The objective was to evaluate the levels of anxiety, depression, stress and the perception of the health status of Mexican university students during 7 weeks of confinement due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Method: Observational and cross-sectional study, the sample was made up by convenience and not random. N = 644 (276 women and 368 men) with an average age of 21.95 years (σ = 3.56), who completed an online survey to detect psychological symptoms, the content of which was composed by the Inventory of State Anxiety, Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-14) and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) and sociodemographic data. Results: symptoms (moderate to severe): stress (31.92%), psychosomatics (5.9%), sleep problems (36.3%), social dysfunction in daily activity (9.5%) and depressive (4.9%), especially in the group of women and the youngest students (18-25 years). In this latter group, anxiety (40.3%) was also detected with higher levels in men. Conclusions: It is necessary to implement prevention, control and reduction programs for the psychological effects generated by confinement during pandemics with the aim of guaranteeing the well-being and mental health of the university students.