Publication
Title
An international comparison of gender differences in mental health among higher-education students during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic : a multilevel design
Author
Abstract
BackgroundMental health problems are a common phenomenon among higher-education students. How these mental health problems manifest themselves appears to differ between male and female students. While the latter group bears a greater risk of developing internalizing problems, with depression being particularly prevalent, these problems manifest themselves in male students mainly via externalizing disorders, with alcohol abuse being the most prevalent. Available cross-national research on students' mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic, to date, mainly focused on the prevalence of depressive symptoms, thereby ignoring a possible gendered impact of the pandemic.MethodsThe current study used the COVID-19 International Student Well-Being Study, which collected data on students' mental health during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in 26 countries, and multilevel modeling was applied.ResultsIt finds that, overall, female students reported more depressive feelings, and male students reported more excessive alcohol consumption. The strictness of the governmental containment measures explained a substantial amount of these gender differences in depressive feelings, but not in excessive alcohol consumption.ConclusionsOur study highlights that the COVID-19 pandemic had a gendered impact on students' mental health. Studies that ignore the gendered impact of the COVID-19 pandemic are therefore limited in scope.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Archives of public health / Institut scientifique de la santé publique--Louis Pasteur (Belgium); Belgium. Ministère de la santé publique et de l'environnement. - Brussels, 1990, currens
Related dataset(s)
Publication
Brussels : 2023
ISSN
0778-7367 [print]
2049-3258 [online]
DOI
10.1186/S13690-023-01211-2
Volume/pages
81 :1 (2023) , p. 1-9
Article Reference
211
ISI
001115637000001
Pubmed ID
38062523
Medium
E-only publicatie
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (open access)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Project info
The COVID-19 International Student Well-Being Study.
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 09.01.2024
Last edited 04.11.2024
To cite this reference