Long-Term Mental Health Impacts of the Covid-19 Pandemic on University Students in the UK: A Longitudinal Analysis Over 12 Months

Figures & data

TABLE 1. Demographic characteristics of the participant sample at each time point

Demographic Characteristic		T1%)	T2%)	T3%)	T4%)
		n=1578	n=1281	n=852	n=554
Gender	Female	1074 (68.1)	877 (68.5)	605 (71)	402 (72.6)
	Male	498 (31.6)	398 (31.1)	243 (28.5)	146 (26.4)
	Missing	6 (.4)	6 (.4)	4 (.5)	6 (1.1)
Age	18–19	379 (24)	307 (24)	205 (24.1)	40 (7.3)
	20–21	593 (37.6)	468 (36.6)	305 (35.8)	199 (36)
	22–23	265 (16.8)	219 (17.1)	136 (16)	138 (24.9)
	24–30	174 (12.3)	159 (11.3)	112 (13.2)	97 (17.6)
	31–40	97 (6.1)	87 (6.7)	61 (7.2)	52 (9.3)
	41+	70 (3.2)	41 (4.3)	33 (3.7)	26 (5)
	Mean	22.9	23	23.2	23.6

TABLE 2. Mental health comparisons between May 2020 and May 2021 in British University students

	T1			T4
Measure	N	M	SD	M	SD	t	p	d
Psychological Distress	539	13.79	7.24	15.61	5.71	−6.605	.001	.20
Anxiety	545	7.57	5.15	7.14	5.02	−2.032	.031	.08
Flourishing	545	102.12	25.67	98.73	27.51	3.638	.001	.13

T1 was responses captured between 14–16 May 2020, T4 was responses captured between 14th May −4th June 2021. N = number of respondents. M = Mean. SD = Standard Deviation. t = paired samples t-test statistic. p = significance (2-tailed). d = effect size (Cohen’s d).

Figure 1. Psychological distress of university students in the UK over 12 months

Figure 2. Generalised anxiety of university students in the UK over 12 months

Figure 3. Flourishing of University students in the UK over 12 months

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in ‘figshare’ at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.22270969.v1