Mental health of HBCU college students during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Objective: This study investigated rates and predictors of mental health issues (e.g., depression and anxiety) in a sample of college students currently attending a historically Black college/university (HBCU) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants/Methods: 98 undergraduate students (81 female and 17 male) completed an online survey containing questions about demographics, socioeconomic status (SES), academic characteristics, and pandemic-related concerns. The survey also included PHQ-9 and GAD-7 questionnaires to evaluate depression and anxiety, respectively. Results: 49% of the students met the clinical cutoff for depression, 39% for anxiety, and 52% for depression and/or anxiety. Significant predictors of meeting the cutoffs included parental job loss/hour reduction, being a senior, and feeling that the pandemic negatively impacted daily life, among other factors. Demographic variables (age, gender, etc.) had no effect. Conclusion: HBCU students show high rates of depression and anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic, which may be predicted based on the student’s academic, socioeconomic, and pandemic-related concerns.

Keywords:

• Anxiety
• COVID-19
• depression
• HBCU
• mental health

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of the United States and received approval from the Institutional Review Board of Delaware State University.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health [Grant Number P20GM103653].