When social isolation is nothing new: A longitudinal study psychological distress during COVID-19 among university students with and without preexisting mental health concerns

TLDR: For example, this paper found that students with preexisting mental health concerns showed increased psychological distress during the COVID-19 global pandemic, which coincided with increased social isolation among these students.

Abstract: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on college and university campuses internationally (e g , widespread campus closures, transitions to online learning) Postsecondary students, who were already a developmentally vulnerable population, are now facing additional new challenges, which could lead to increased mental health concerns However, there is a paucity of research on the psychological impacts of COVID-19, or who may be most at risk, among postsecondary students To address these gaps in the literature, we recontacted a sample of 773 postsecondary students (74% female, Mage = 18 52) who previously completed a survey on student mental health in May 2019, again in May 2020 Students filled out an online survey at both time points, reporting on their recent stressful experiences and mental health Although we expected that students with preexisting mental health concerns would show increased psychological distress during the pandemic, this hypothesis was not supported Instead, repeated-measures analyses demonstrated that students with preexisting mental health concerns showed improving or similar mental health during the pandemic (compared with one year prior) In contrast, students without preexisting mental health concerns were more likely to show declining mental health, which coincided with increased social isolation among these students Our findings underscore that colleges and universities will not only need to continue to support students with preexisting mental health needs but also prioritize early prevention and intervention programming to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 on students with increasing psychological distress, potentially stemming from increasing social isolation in response to the pandemic (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved) Abstract (French) La pandemie mondiale du coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) a eu un impact sans precedent sur les campus universitaires et collegiaux a l'echelle internationale (p ex , fermetures de campus generalisees, transition vers l'apprentissage en ligne) Les etudiants de niveau postsecondaire, qui forment deja une population vulnerable sur le plan developpemental, font maintenant face a de nouveaux defis supplementaires, ce qui pourrait entrainer une augmentation des inquietudes en matiere de sante mentale Or, il y a un manque de recherche sur les impacts psychologiques de la COVID-19, ou sur les personnes qui pourraient etre les plus a risque, chez les etudiants de niveau postsecondaire Afin de combler ces lacunes dans la litterature, nous avons contacte, de nouveau en mai 2020, un echantillon de 773 etudiants de niveau postsecondaire (74 % de sexe feminin, age median = 18,52 ans) qui avaient deja repondu a un sondage en mai 2019 sur la sante mentale des etudiants Les etudiants ont rempli un sondage en ligne aux deux moments, faisant etat de leurs recentes experiences stressantes et de leur sante mentale Bien que nous nous attendions a ce que les etudiants ayant des preoccupations preexistantes en matiere de sante mentale montrent une detresse psychologique accrue pendant la pandemie, cette hypothese n'a pas ete appuyee Au lieu de cela, des analyses repetees ont demontre que les etudiants ayant des problemes preexistants de sante mentale affichaient une amelioration ou une sante mentale similaire pendant la pandemie (comparativement a un an auparavant) En revanche, les etudiants qui n'avaient pas de problemes preexistants de sante mentale etaient plus susceptibles de presenter une diminution de la sante mentale, ce qui coincidait avec un isolement social accru chez ces etudiants Nos resultats soulignent que les colleges et les universites auront non seulement besoin de continuer a soutenir les etudiants ayant des besoins preexistants en sante mentale, mais aussi de donner la priorite aux programmes de prevention et d'intervention precoces afin d'attenuer les repercussions de la COVID-19 sur les etudiants qui eprouvent une detresse psychologique croissante, pouvant decouler d'un isolement social croissant en reponse a la pandemie (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved) Impact Statement Public Significance Statement -Although there is mounting concern that students with preexisting mental health concerns may be particularly vulnerable to the psychological impacts of COVID-19, the present study found that students without preexisting mental health concerns had greater increases in psychological distress during the pandemic Increases in social isolation were unique to students without preexisting mental health concerns (whereas students with preexisting mental health concerns showed no change), which may account for the worsening of their mental health (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)