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
Abstract Background Mental 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 depressi...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2023-12-01
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| Series: | Archives of Public Health |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s13690-023-01211-2 |
| _version_ | 1797398132667973632 |
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| author | Sarah Van de Velde Anneleen De Cuyper Leen De Kort Kimberly Jacobs Nikoletta Somogyi Robert Tholen Nina Van Eekert Veerle Buffel |
| author_facet | Sarah Van de Velde Anneleen De Cuyper Leen De Kort Kimberly Jacobs Nikoletta Somogyi Robert Tholen Nina Van Eekert Veerle Buffel |
| author_sort | Sarah Van de Velde |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background Mental 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. Methods The 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. Results It 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. Conclusions Our 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. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T01:21:18Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3f486365ff344322891f5da144fe0658 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2049-3258 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T01:21:18Z |
| publishDate | 2023-12-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Archives of Public Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-3f486365ff344322891f5da144fe06582023-12-10T12:08:27ZengBMCArchives of Public Health2049-32582023-12-018111910.1186/s13690-023-01211-2An international comparison of gender differences in mental health among higher-education students during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic: a multilevel designSarah Van de Velde0Anneleen De Cuyper1Leen De Kort2Kimberly Jacobs3Nikoletta Somogyi4Robert Tholen5Nina Van Eekert6Veerle Buffel7Centre for Population, Family, and Health, University of AntwerpCentre for Population, Family, and Health, University of AntwerpCentre for Population, Family, and Health, University of AntwerpCentre for Population, Family, and Health, University of AntwerpCentre for Population, Family, and Health, University of AntwerpCentre for Population, Family, and Health, University of AntwerpCentre for Population, Family, and Health, University of AntwerpInterface Demography, Vrije Universiteit BrusselAbstract Background Mental 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. Methods The 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. Results It 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. Conclusions Our 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.https://doi.org/10.1186/s13690-023-01211-2DepressionAlcoholHigher educationCOVID-19Multilevel |
| spellingShingle | Sarah Van de Velde Anneleen De Cuyper Leen De Kort Kimberly Jacobs Nikoletta Somogyi Robert Tholen Nina Van Eekert Veerle Buffel 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 Archives of Public Health Depression Alcohol Higher education COVID-19 Multilevel |
| 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 |
| title_full | 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 |
| title_fullStr | 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 |
| title_full_unstemmed | 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 |
| title_short | 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 |
| title_sort | international comparison of gender differences in mental health among higher education students during the first wave of the covid 19 pandemic a multilevel design |
| topic | Depression Alcohol Higher education COVID-19 Multilevel |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s13690-023-01211-2 |
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