IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i13p6730-d579894.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Identifying Predictors of University Students’ Wellbeing during the COVID-19 Pandemic—A Data-Driven Approach

Author

Listed:
  • Chang Liu

    (School of Psychological Sciences, Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University, Clayton, VIC 3800, Australia)

  • Melinda McCabe

    (School of Psychological Sciences, Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University, Clayton, VIC 3800, Australia)

  • Andrew Dawson

    (School of Psychological Sciences, Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University, Clayton, VIC 3800, Australia)

  • Chad Cyrzon

    (School of Psychological Sciences, Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University, Clayton, VIC 3800, Australia)

  • Shruthi Shankar

    (School of Psychological Sciences, Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University, Clayton, VIC 3800, Australia)

  • Nardin Gerges

    (School of Psychological Sciences, Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University, Clayton, VIC 3800, Australia)

  • Sebastian Kellett-Renzella

    (School of Psychological Sciences, Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University, Clayton, VIC 3800, Australia)

  • Yann Chye

    (School of Psychological Sciences, Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University, Clayton, VIC 3800, Australia)

  • Kim Cornish

    (School of Psychological Sciences, Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University, Clayton, VIC 3800, Australia)

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has posed risks to public mental health worldwide. University students, who are already recognised as a vulnerable population, are at elevated risk of mental health issues given COVID-19-related disruptions to higher education. To assist universities in effectively allocating resources to the launch of targeted, population-level interventions, the current study aimed to uncover predictors of university students’ psychological wellbeing during the pandemic via a data-driven approach. Methods: Data were collected from 3973 Australian university students ((median age = 22, aged from 18 to 79); 70.6% female)) at five time points during 2020. Feature selection was conducted via least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) to identify predictors from a comprehensive set of variables. Selected variables were then entered into an ordinary least squares (OLS) model to compare coefficients and assess statistical significance. Results: Six negative predictors of university students’ psychological wellbeing emerged: White/European ethnicity, restriction stress, perceived worry on mental health, dietary changes, perceived sufficiency of distancing communication, and social isolation. Physical health status, emotional support, and resilience were positively associated with students’ psychological wellbeing. Social isolation has the largest effect on students’ psychological wellbeing. Notably, age, gender, international status, and educational level did not emerge as predictors of wellbeing. Conclusion: To cost-effectively support student wellbeing through 2021 and beyond, universities should consider investing in internet- and tele- based interventions explicitly targeting perceived social isolation among students. Course-based online forums as well as internet- and tele-based logotherapy may be promising candidates for improving students’ psychological wellbeing.

Suggested Citation

  • Chang Liu & Melinda McCabe & Andrew Dawson & Chad Cyrzon & Shruthi Shankar & Nardin Gerges & Sebastian Kellett-Renzella & Yann Chye & Kim Cornish, 2021. "Identifying Predictors of University Students’ Wellbeing during the COVID-19 Pandemic—A Data-Driven Approach," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(13), pages 1-10, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:13:p:6730-:d:579894
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/13/6730/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/13/6730/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rachael H. Dodd & Kevin Dadaczynski & Orkan Okan & Kirsten J. McCaffery & Kristen Pickles, 2021. "Psychological Wellbeing and Academic Experience of University Students in Australia during COVID-19," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(3), pages 1-12, January.
    2. Hannah Strohmeier & Willem F Scholte & Alastair Ager, 2018. "Factors associated with common mental health problems of humanitarian workers in South Sudan," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(10), pages 1-19, October.
    3. Luigi Isaia Lecca & Marcello Campagna & Igor Portoghese & Maura Galletta & Nicola Mucci & Michele Meloni & Pierluigi Cocco, 2018. "Work Related Stress, Well-Being and Cardiovascular Risk among Flight Logistic Workers: An Observational Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-14, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Monica Aureliana Petcu & Maria Iulia Sobolevschi-David & Raluca Florentina Crețu & Stefania Cristina Curea & Anca Maria Hristea & Mihaela Diana Oancea-Negescu & Daniela Tutui, 2023. "Telework: A Social and Emotional Perspective of the Impact on Employees’ Wellbeing in the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-18, January.
    2. Sylvester Reuben Okeke, 2022. "“Compared to COVID, HIV Is Nothing”: Exploring How Onshore East Asian and Sub-Saharan African International Students in Sydney Navigate COVID-19 versus BBVs/STIs Risk Spectrum," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-15, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Robert Tholen & Koen Ponnet & Guido Van Hal & Sara De Bruyn & Veerle Buffel & Sarah Van de Velde & Piet Bracke & Edwin Wouters, 2022. "Substance Use among Belgian Higher Education Students before and during the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(7), pages 1-13, April.
    2. Gülsen Erden & Asil Ali Özdoğru & Sami Çoksan & Hale Ögel-Balaban & Yakup Azak & İlkiz Altınoğlu-Dikmeer & Aysun Ergül-Topçu & Yeşim Yasak & Gözde Kıral-Uçar & Seda Oktay & Pelin Karaca-Dinç & Ezgi Di, 2022. "Social Contact, Academic Satisfaction, COVID-19 Knowledge, and Subjective Well-being Among Students at Turkish Universities: a Nine-University Sample," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(4), pages 2017-2039, August.
    3. Isabel Josam & Sarah Grothe & Daniel Lüdecke & Nico Vonneilich & Olaf von dem Knesebeck, 2022. "Burdening and Protective Organisational Factors among International Volunteers in Greek Refugee Camps—A Qualitative Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-12, July.
    4. Hanif Abdul Rahman & Areekul Amornsriwatanakul & Khadizah H. Abdul-Mumin & Denny Agustiningsih & Surasak Chaiyasong & Michael Chia & Supat Chupradit & Le Quang Huy & Katiya Ivanovitch & Ira Nurmala & , 2022. "Prevalence of Health-Risk Behaviors and Mental Well-Being of ASEAN University Students in COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-15, July.
    5. Chiara Lorini & Veronica Velasco & Guglielmo Bonaccorsi & Kevin Dadaczynski & Orkan Okan & Patrizio Zanobini & Luca P. Vecchio, 2022. "Validation of the COVID-19 Digital Health Literacy Instrument in the Italian Language: A Cross-Sectional Study of Italian University Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-17, May.
    6. Elisabeth Noehammer, 2022. "Students and Staff in Lockdown: Mental and Social Health in the Austrian Tertiary Education Sector," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-12, December.
    7. Tauqeer Hussain Mallhi & Naveed Ahmad & Muhammad Salman & Nida Tanveer & Shahid Shah & Muhammad Hammad Butt & Ahmed D. Alatawi & Nasser Hadal Alotaibi & Hidayat Ur Rahman & Abdulaziz Ibrahim Alzarea &, 2022. "Estimation of Psychological Impairment and Coping Strategies during COVID-19 Pandemic among University Students in Saudi Arabia: A Large Regional Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-16, November.
    8. Carmem M. Cunha & Nathalie Dens & Georg D. Granic, 2023. "University Students’ Well-Being and Engagement in Activities in the Early Days of Covid-19," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 18(1), pages 279-303, February.
    9. Nam Hoang Tran & Nhien Thi Nguyen & Binh Thanh Nguyen & Quang Ngoc Phan, 2022. "Students’ Perceived Well-Being and Online Preference: Evidence from Two Universities in Vietnam during COVID-19," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-14, September.
    10. Seema Mihrshahi & Putu Novi Arfirsta Dharmayani & Janaki Amin & Alexandra Bhatti & Josephine Y. Chau & Rimante Ronto & Diana Turnip & Melanie Taylor, 2022. "Higher Prevalence of Food Insecurity and Psychological Distress among International University Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Australian Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-14, October.
    11. Stefano Quarta & Annalisa Levante & María-Teresa García-Conesa & Flavia Lecciso & Egeria Scoditti & Maria Annunziata Carluccio & Nadia Calabriso & Fabrizio Damiano & Giuseppe Santarpino & Tiziano Verr, 2022. "Assessment of Subjective Well-Being in a Cohort of University Students and Staff Members: Association with Physical Activity and Outdoor Leisure Time during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(8), pages 1-26, April.
    12. Luigi Isaia Lecca & Igor Portoghese & Nicola Mucci & Maura Galletta & Federico Meloni & Ilaria Pilia & Gabriele Marcias & Daniele Fabbri & Jacopo Fostinelli & Roberto G. Lucchini & Pierluigi Cocco & M, 2019. "Association between Work-Related Stress and QT Prolongation in Male Workers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-13, November.
    13. Beatriz Crespo-Ruiz & Shai Rivas-Galan & Cristina Fernandez-Vega & Carmen Crespo-Ruiz & Luis Maicas-Perez, 2018. "Executive Stress Management: Physiological Load of Stress and Recovery in Executives on Workdays," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-14, December.
    14. Sabina Potra & Adrian Pugna & Mădălin-Dorin Pop & Romeo Negrea & Luisa Dungan, 2021. "Facing COVID-19 Challenges: 1st-Year Students’ Experience with the Romanian Hybrid Higher Educational System," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(6), pages 1-15, March.
    15. William E. Donald & Denise Jackson, 2022. "Subjective Wellbeing among University Students and Recent Graduates: Evidence from the United Kingdom," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(11), pages 1-17, June.
    16. Wandeep Kaur & Vimala Balakrishnan & Yoke Yong Chen & Jeyarani Periasamy, 2022. "Mental Health Risk Factors and Coping Strategies among Students in Asia Pacific during COVID-19 Pandemic—A Scoping Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-15, July.
    17. Sabrina Zeike & Katherine Bradbury & Lara Lindert & Holger Pfaff, 2019. "Digital Leadership Skills and Associations with Psychological Well-Being," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(14), pages 1-12, July.
    18. Yulu Zhao & Xinye Xu & Gangwei Cai & Zhetao Hu & Yan Hong, 2022. "Promoting Strategies for Healthy Environments in University Halls of Residence under Regular Epidemic Prevention and Control: An Importance—Performance Analysis from Zhejiang, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-19, November.
    19. Carsten K. Bak & Jeanne Ø. Krammer & Kevin Dadaczynski & Okan Orkan & Jesper von Seelen & Christina Prinds & Lene M. Søbjerg & Heidi Klakk, 2022. "Digital Health Literacy and Information-Seeking Behavior among University College Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study from Denmark," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-14, March.
    20. María F. Rivadeneira & María J. Miranda-Velasco & Hiram V. Arroyo & José D. Caicedo-Gallardo & Carmen Salvador-Pinos, 2022. "Digital Health Literacy Related to COVID-19: Validation and Implementation of a Questionnaire in Hispanic University Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(7), pages 1-14, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:13:p:6730-:d:579894. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.