Negative COVID-19 impacts and depressive symptoms over time among first-year college students.

RESEARCH; PSYCHOLOGY of college students; STUDENT health services; TIME; HISPANIC Americans; ATTITUDE (Psychology); MENTAL health; GROUP identity; SOCIAL context; ACADEMIC achievement; SEX distribution; MENTAL depression; INTERPERSONAL relations; QUALITY of life; FINANCIAL stress; QUESTIONNAIRES; INTERSECTIONALITY; RESEARCH funding; STATISTICAL correlation; STUDENT attitudes; SOCIODEMOGRAPHIC factors; COVID-19 pandemic; AFRICAN Americans

Objective: This study examined the disruptions to social life, financial impact, and academic concerns caused by COVID-19 experienced by first-year college students, as well as their associations with depressive symptoms over time. Participants and Methods: Five hundred and thirty freshman college students completed an online survey at baseline and 14-week follow-up. Results: We found that female students reported greater COVID-19 academic concerns than males. Black students endorsed lower COVID-19 academic concerns and Latinx students reported greater negative COVID-19 financial impact compared to other ethnic groups. First-generation college students reported greater negative COVID-19 financial impact than domestic students. COVID-19 academic concerns and negative social and financial impacts were associated with greater depressive symptoms at baseline. However, only COVID-19 academic concerns were associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms over time. Conclusions: Findings suggest that the academic, social, and financial disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have negative mental health consequences that should be addressed in research and university settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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