Demographics, Socioeconomic Status, Social Distancing, Psychosocial Factors and Psychological Well-Being among Undergraduate Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Andréa Neiva da Silva, Carla Ribeiro Guedes, Cláudia Du Bocage Santos-Pinto, Elaine Silva Miranda, Larissa Machado Ferreira and Mario Vianna Vettore
Additional contact information
Andréa Neiva da Silva: Department of Health and Society, Institute of Collective Health, Fluminense Federal University (UFF), Av. Marquês do Paraná, 303/3º andar, Niterói 24070-035, Brazil
Carla Ribeiro Guedes: Department of Health and Society, Institute of Collective Health, Fluminense Federal University (UFF), Av. Marquês do Paraná, 303/3º andar, Niterói 24070-035, Brazil
Cláudia Du Bocage Santos-Pinto: Integrated Health Institute, Mato Grosso do Sul Federal University (UFMS), Cidade Universitária, Av. Costa e Silva s/n, Campo Grande 79070-900, Brazil
Elaine Silva Miranda: Departament of Pharmacy and Pharmacy Administration, Faculty of Pharmacy, Fluminense Federal University (UFF), R. Dr. Mario Vianna, 523 Santa Rosa, Niterói 24241-000, Brazil
Larissa Machado Ferreira: Departament of Pharmacy and Pharmacy Administration, Faculty of Pharmacy, Fluminense Federal University (UFF), R. Dr. Mario Vianna, 523 Santa Rosa, Niterói 24241-000, Brazil
Mario Vianna Vettore: Department of Health and Nursing Sciences, University of Agder (UiA), Universitetsveien 25, 4630 Kristiansand, Norway

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 14, 1-14

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic impacted on academic routine because of the social distancing measures. This study examined the relationships of sociodemographic characteristics, social distancing aspects and psychosocial factors on psychosocial well-being among undergraduate students during the social distancing period due to COVID-19. A web-based survey was conducted of undergraduate students at a public university in Brazil ( n = 620). Demographics, socioeconomic status (SES), social distancing factors, negative affectivity (DASS-21), sense of coherence (SOC-13), social support and psychosocial well-being (GHQ-12) were measured. The direct and indirect links between was variables was tested using structural equation modelling. The estimated model showed that greater social support, higher sense of coherence and lower negative affectivity were directly associated with better psychological well-being. Female gender, higher SES, not working during the social distancing period and availability of online modules were indirectly associated with psychological well-being through psychosocial factors. Working during the social distancing period and availability of online modules mediated the link of age, gender, SES with psychological well-being. Our findings suggest the need to provide psychological support, online teaching and financial aid to undergraduate students during the social distancing period due to COVID-19 pandemic to improve their psychological well-being.

Keywords: COVID-19; undergraduate students; psychological well-being; mental health (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 (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/14/7215/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/14/7215/ (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:14:p:7215-:d:589126

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 ().