Campus Location
Abilene Campus (Residential)
Date of Award
5-2023
Document Type
Thesis
Department
Social Work
Degree Name
Master of Science
Committee Chair or Primary Advisor
Kyeonghee Jang
Second Committee Member or Secondary Advisor
Erica Vasquez
Third Committee Member or Committee Reader
Amy Leverton
Abstract
COVID-19 changed the world in the span of a few months. Schools and other businesses had to close and move to an online format to decrease physical interaction and stop the spread of the virus. Many people went without seeing close friends and loved ones due to the quarantine or lost someone close to them due to the virus. Students enrolled in college were sent home abruptly and could not return in person to school for the remainder of the year. Even when they were allowed to return to school, new guidelines and how classroom content was delivered were put into effect. Quarantine and the pandemic caused the mental health of many students to decline. COVID-19 also caused an increase in other stressors, such as financial stability, lack of food, or housing options. The purpose of this study is to research how COVID-19 impacted the mental health of college students. This cross-sectional survey study used a convenience sampling of 15 college students within a specific department at a private university in West Texas. A hierarchical regression analysis shows that the increase in stressors, such as housing and financial stability, was a statistically significant factor in mental health after COVID-19. Based on the findings, universities and communities will need to expand mental health resources, as well as services that provide other needs such as food and financial help. More studies with larger sample sizes on this issue would be beneficial in order to better understand the impact COVID-19 had on the mental health of college students.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Marcelain, Jack, "The Impact of COVID-19 on the Mental Health of College Students" (2023). Digital Commons @ ACU, Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 599.
https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/etd/599