COVID-19 and Lockdown, as Lived and Felt by University Students

Cátia Branquinho (), Fábio Botelho Guedes, Ana Cerqueira, Alexandra Marques-Pinto, Amélia Branco (), Cecília Galvão, Joana Sousa, Luís F. Goulão, Maria Rosário Bronze, Wanda Viegas and Margarida Gaspar de Matos
Additional contact information
Cátia Branquinho: Instituto de Saúde Ambiental (ISAMB), Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Lisboa (FMUL), 1649-028 Lisbon, Portugal
Fábio Botelho Guedes: Instituto de Saúde Ambiental (ISAMB), Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Lisboa (FMUL), 1649-028 Lisbon, Portugal
Ana Cerqueira: Instituto de Saúde Ambiental (ISAMB), Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Lisboa (FMUL), 1649-028 Lisbon, Portugal
Alexandra Marques-Pinto: Centro de Investigação em Ciência Psicológica, Faculdade de Psicologia, Universidade de Lisboa, 1649-013 Lisbon, Portugal
Cecília Galvão: Instituto de Saúde Ambiental (ISAMB), Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Lisboa (FMUL), 1649-028 Lisbon, Portugal
Joana Sousa: Instituto de Saúde Ambiental (ISAMB), Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Lisboa (FMUL), 1649-028 Lisbon, Portugal
Luís F. Goulão: Unidade de Investigação Linking Landscape, Environment, Agriculture and Food (LEAF), Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lisboa (ISAUL), 1349-017 Lisbon, Portugal
Maria Rosário Bronze: Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade de Lisboa (FFUL), 1649-003 Lisbon, Portugal
Wanda Viegas: Unidade de Investigação Linking Landscape, Environment, Agriculture and Food (LEAF), Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lisboa (ISAUL), 1349-017 Lisbon, Portugal
Margarida Gaspar de Matos: Instituto de Saúde Ambiental (ISAMB), Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Lisboa (FMUL), 1649-028 Lisbon, Portugal

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 20, 1-10

Abstract: In the last 2 years, the COVID-19 pandemic has spread all over the world, forcing the closure of universities, among other unusual measures in recent history. (1) Background: This work is based on the study HOUSE-ULisbon, a survey carried out during the second confinement (March–May 2021) in Portugal with the collaboration of all the Faculties of the University of Lisbon (UL). The present work aims to explore gender differences in how first-year college students experienced and felt COVID-19 and the second confinement. (2) Methods: A questionnaire was carried out. In total, 976 university students (19.66 years ( SD = 4.033); Min = 17 and Max = 65) from the first year of the UL were included, of which 69.5% ( n = 678) were female, and 30.5% were male ( n = 298). SPSS v. 26 was used for quantitative data and MAXQDA 2020 for qualitative data. (3) Results: Overall, students reported various symptoms of physical and mental discomfort (especially females). Statistically significant differences were found in the problems that could arise from the pandemic, such as the prevalence of higher anxiety and worries by females, and online gaming by males. In coping strategies, differences were found in leisure and family relationships, with greater difficulty on the female side. Social interaction was perceived as difficult or very difficult by both genders. As strategies for future pandemics, they highlighted a concerted effort between the government and media in the transmission of messages to the population, facilitating information, knowledge and adoption of protective behaviors. (4) Conclusions: These results are important data for activating or maintaining resources and services for first-year university students, who in some university institutions were supported during the pandemic by psychological, material (e.g., computers, internet), and financial support measures, which are now diminished or extinct. The impacts on their lives will certainly not be extinguished post-pandemic, and health, education, and public policy measures should be prioritized for this group. These results are important data for activating resources and services for students, informing health and education professionals, and supporting public policies.

Keywords: Portugal; pandemic; COVID-19; first-year university students; mixed method (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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