EconPapers    
Economics at your fingertips  
 

Depressive Symptomatology and Practice of Safety Measures among Undergraduate Students during COVID-19: Impact of Gender

Badr K. Aldhmadi, Rakesh Kumar, Ramaiah Itumalla and Bilesha Perera
Additional contact information
Badr K. Aldhmadi: Department of Health Management, College of Public Health and Health Informatics, University of Ha’il, Ha’il 81451, Saudi Arabia
Rakesh Kumar: Department of Health Management, College of Public Health and Health Informatics, University of Ha’il, Ha’il 81451, Saudi Arabia
Ramaiah Itumalla: Department of Health Management, College of Public Health and Health Informatics, University of Ha’il, Ha’il 81451, Saudi Arabia
Bilesha Perera: Department of Health Management, College of Public Health and Health Informatics, University of Ha’il, Ha’il 81451, Saudi Arabia

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 9, 1-9

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly affected the personal and academic lives of undergraduates in Saudi Arabia. Although studies have suggested that COVID-19 increased the prevalence of psychological health problems among undergraduates, the associations between the risk of depression and safety practices and the influence of gender on these associations have not been studied in detail. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted among preparatory-year undergraduates in a large public university in Saudi Arabia during the outbreak. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression (CES-D) Scale, and the practice of eight precautionary behaviors was also assessed. Data analysis was performed using the chi-square test, multiple linear regression and Spearman’s correlation coefficient. In total, 3044 undergraduates were surveyed. The mean age was 18.6 years ( SD = 0.84), and 61.9% ( n = 1883) of the participants were female. Overall, 47.7% of the participants reported having elevated depressive symptoms. Overall mean values of CES-D scores were higher among female undergraduates than that of male undergraduates (18.08 versus 15.56, p < 0.01). There were inverse and weak but significant relationships between the CES-D score and frequent cleaning of hands (male: r = ?0.116, p < 0.01; female: r = ?0.098, p < 0.01), wearing a mask when going out (male: r = ?0.172, p < 0.01; female: r = ?0.135, p < 0.01), keeping social distance (male: r = ?0.117, p < 0.01; female: r = ?0.147, p < 0.01), and covering the nose when sneezing (male: r = ?0.202, p < 0.01; female: r = ?0.115, p < 0.01). Regression analysis indicated that adherence to precautionary measures was a strong predictor of reduction of depressive symptoms in the target population. Male gender was also found to be an independent predictor of reduction of depressive symptoms. Depressive symptoms were highly prevalent in this target group, and female undergraduates seemed to be more vulnerable to developing such symptoms. Results also indicated that female undergraduates were more likely to implement the protective measures for COVID-19. The promotion of precautionary measures seems to be effective in reducing distress in this target population, but further research is needed to confirm our assertions.

Keywords: depressive symptoms; university undergraduates; Saudi Arabia; precautionary measures; COVID-19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/9/4924/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/9/4924/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:9:p:4924-:d:549124

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().

 
Page updated 2025-03-19
Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:9:p:4924-:d:549124