Impact of COVID‐19 on Psychology among the University Students

Dhar, Bablu Kumar; Ayittey, Foster Kofi; Sarkar, Sabrina Maria

The purpose of the study is to find out the psychological impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on university students. The study focuses on the university students from different public and private universities of Bangladesh through a set of questionnaires according to the guideline of Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD‐7). The result among 15 543 respondents shows that 44.59% are suffering from severe anxiety, 48.41% moderate anxiety, and only 3.82% mild anxiety. The results highlight that all epidemic‐related stressors are positively correlated with the level of anxiety. Among the epidemic‐related stressors, worry about economic influences during and after COVID‐19 (r = 0.342, p < 0.001) and worry about the influence of COVID‐19 on daily life (r = 0.340, p < 0.001) have a highly positive impact on the level of anxiety. Following these stressors, worry about academic delays due to COVID‐19 (r = 0.326, p < 0.001) and worry about the social support during COVID‐19 (r = 0.321, p < 0.001) have moderately and positively correlated with the level of anxiety. The study suggests that proper government support, as well as social awareness, should be monitored during epidemics for decreasing anxiety and maintaining a good mental health of the university students.