Anxiety, Depression, Stress, and Test Anxiety are Inversely Associated with Academic Performance Among Undergraduate Students Post-COVID-19 Confinement

ABSTRACT

Background

Addressing mental health illnesses among the college student population is pressing since they are associated with a decline in academic performance.

Purpose

This cross-sectional study investigates the impact of mental health illnesses and test anxiety on academic performance of 201 undergraduate students post-COVID-19 in U.S.A. Methods: A survey was administered between October 20^th and November 3^rd 2022 to collect data on demographics, mental health variables and GPA.

Results

Significant negative associations were observed between academic performance and depression (ß = –0.022, p < .01), anxiety (ß = –0.015, p = .01), stress (ß = –0.021, p < .01), and test anxiety (ß = –0.011, p < .01). There was a significant difference in GPA between all labels of depression and stress (P = .01 and P < .01 respectively). For test anxiety and GPA, there was significant dose response relationship; the higher the test anxiety level, the lower the GPA (P < .01).

Discussion

Governments and higher education institutions should provide the necessary academic, social, mental, and financial support during and post-confinement.

Translation to Health Education Practice

The findings may be valuable for health educators who can reach stakeholders and highlight the importance of addressing these mental health illnesses and applying systematic mental health treatment plan on college campuses.

Acknowledgments

We thank the subjects of the study for their participation. This work was not supported by a grant. Dr. Jehi designed the study and mentored Mr. Mulvey along with Mrs. Shulgan, Burke, Dean, Betancourt, and Carliss during data collection. Drs. Jehi, Khan, Beeson, Halawani, Zeman, and Majzoub conducted the data analyses and developed the manuscript. All authors provided feedback and revisions. All authors read and approved the final submission.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Consent for publication

All authors provided consent for publication.

Ethical statement

All subjects provided written and oral informed consent to participate. The study protocol was approved by the James Madison Institutional Review Board (JMU-IRB # 23-3680).