Lingering effects of COVID-19 on the mental health of first-year university students in Japan.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is continuing unabated in Japan, as of October 2021. We aimed to compare first-year university students' psychological distress before the pandemic in 2019, during the pandemic in 2020, and one year after the onset of the pandemic, in 2021.

Methods

The study conducted online surveys over three years from April to May each year. Participants were 400 first-year students in 2019, 766 in 2020, and 738 in 2021. We examined differences in scores on the Counseling Center Assessment of Psychological Symptoms-Japanese version (CCAPS-Japanese) between the three years using a one-way analysis of variance, and differences in the CCAPS-Japanese critical items using chi-squared test and residual analysis.

Results

The aver

SUBMITTER: Horita R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8754334 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature