HOW DID THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AFFECT AND IMPACT THE MENTAL HEALTH OF COLLEGE STUDENTS?

Abstract

Background: As many people are aware, COVID-19 began in December of 2019 when a group of patients in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, began to experience shortness of breath and fever. COVID 19 is also known as the coronavirus 2 that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV-2; formerly called 2019-nCoV). COVID-19 is very contagious and has spread rapidly over the world. COVID-19 is most commonly associated with respiratory symptoms that resemble a cold, flu, or pneumonia.

Objective: This study aims to identify the ways in which the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic affects the mental health of college students.

Design and Method: The research is based on timely scholarly articles of literature which remains ongoing since COVID-19 started in 2019 and is still present and existing. The resources address the reasons as to why mental health is being affected and what are the factors that contribute to such.

Results: This study is significant because it shows how an infectious virus impacts the lives of many beyond what we already know, and because this is still ongoing research, there will be more information to come out; this is only just the beginning of scratching the surface of just the many impacts COVID-19 has had on people.

Conclusions: At this moment, there is a limitation of research done on this area of study, however there is enough to indicate that this is an issue and might continue to be depending on how ongoing COVID-19 is and how prevalent it can be in our lives.

Keywords: Mental health, COVID, College students and the pandemic, college students, COVID- 19 mental health, impact of COVID, substance use and COVID-19, Mental health and substance usage