Mental health, partnerships, and sexual behavior of German university students after the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Objective: This study examined the state of mental health, partnerships, and sexual activity of German university students after the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants and methods: In June and July 2021, 928 students (23.6 years; 63.5% female) from four universities in Germany participated in an online survey that assessed depressive and anxiety symptoms as well as data on partnerships and sexuality. Results: Of the students, 56.4% were above the cutoff for clinically relevant depressive symptoms and 35.7% were above the cutoff for clinically relevant anxiety symptoms. Female gender, higher academic-related stress, lower financial resources, higher strain due to COVID-19, and more loneliness were associated with more severe symptoms. A quarter of the students each reported an improvement or deterioration in their partnerships. Conclusions: Student mental health appears to be worse compared to pre-pandemic and first wave data. It should be examined whether symptoms decrease when universities reopen.

Keywords:

• COVID-19 pandemic
• Germany
• mental health
• university
• students

Acknowledgments

We thank the students for their participation in our study and the positive feedback on our research project.

Authors’ contributions

MS wrote 50% of the manuscript and performed 80% of the data analyses. KH 10% manuscript; KK 10% manuscript; BM 10% manuscript, and WS 20% manuscript/analyses. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript and ensure that this is the case.

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 Germany and received approval from the ethics committee of Technische Universität Braunschweig (BA_2021-14).

Ethics approval

The research project received ethical approval from the ethics committee of Technische Universität Braunschweig (BA_2021-14). All methods were performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Participation in the survey was voluntary, and all students gave informed consent before the survey began.

Funding

No funding was used to support this research and/or the preparation of the manuscript.

Data availability statement

The data analyzed in the current study can be obtained from Max Supke ([email protected]). The data are available for further research on reasonable request. The questionnaires used can be found in the corresponding references.