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Depressive Symptoms among Slovenian Female Tertiary Students before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Analysis of Two Repeated Cross-Sectional Surveys in 2020 and 2021

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  • Andrej Kirbiš

    (Department of Sociology, Faculty of Arts, University of Maribor, Koroška cesta 160, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia)

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected the mental health of the general population. This holds true especially for vulnerable groups, including young people, students, and females. Our study examined cross-sectional changes in depressive symptoms from immediately before the COVID-19 pandemic (January/February 2020) to the second wave of the epidemic in Slovenia (January/February 2021) among female tertiary students. A multivariate analysis of two repeated cross-sectional surveys was performed using relatively homogeneous samples. The pooled sample included 418 young adult female students (M age = 21.21 years). Depressed affect items were used to measure depressive symptomatology. All three feelings indicating depressed affect increased substantially and significantly from 2020 to 2021: feeling depressed (23% vs. 38%), lonely (16% vs. 43%), and sad (21% vs. 49%). In 2021, female students had almost a three-fold increase in the odds of reporting at least two out of three depressed affect symptoms compared to 2020 (19% vs. 43%; aOR 2.97; 95% CI 1.59–5.54; p < 0.001), adjusted for sociodemographic and socioeconomic confounders. Our findings suggest that Slovenian female students’ mental health deteriorated during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Public health professionals’ efforts to combat the pandemic’s mental health-related negative short-term and potential long-term impacts should thus focus on young people, especially on younger female students.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrej Kirbiš, 2023. "Depressive Symptoms among Slovenian Female Tertiary Students before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Analysis of Two Repeated Cross-Sectional Surveys in 2020 and 2021," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-13, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:18:p:13776-:d:1240717
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Adams-Prassl, Abi & Boneva, Teodora & Golin, Marta & Rauh, Christopher, 2020. "Inequality in the impact of the coronavirus shock: Evidence from real time surveys," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    2. Adams-Prassl, A. & Boneva, T. & Golin, M & Rauh, C., 2020. "Inequality in the Impact of the Coronavirus Shock: New Survey Evidence for the US," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 2022, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    3. Aleksander Aristovnik & Damijana Keržič & Dejan Ravšelj & Nina Tomaževič & Lan Umek, 2020. "Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Life of Higher Education Students: A Global Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-34, October.
    4. Anna Babicka-Wirkus & Paweł Kozłowski & Łukasz Wirkus & Krzysztof Stasiak, 2023. "Internalizing and Externalizing Disorder Levels among Adolescents: Data from Poland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-17, February.
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