| Title: | Depressive symptoms among Slovenian female tertiary students before and during the COVID-19 pandemic : analysis of two repeated cross-sectional surveys in 2020 and 2021 |
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| Authors: | ID Kirbiš, Andrej (Author) |
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| Files: |  Kirbis-2023-Depressive_Symptoms_among_Slovenia.pdf (286,19 KB)
MD5: DD3B1CC4BBDB05A840110263C4EF3401
 https://doi.org/10.3390/su151813776
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| Language: | English |
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| Work type: | Article |
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| Typology: | 1.01 - Original Scientific Article |
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| Organization: | FF - Faculty of Arts
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| Abstract: | The COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected the mental health of the general population. This holds true especially for vulnerable groups, including young people, students, and females. Our study examined cross-sectional changes in depressive symptoms from immediately before the COVID-19 pandemic (January/February 2020) to the second wave of the epidemic in Slovenia (January/February 2021) among female tertiary students. A multivariate analysis of two repeated cross-sectional surveys was performed using relatively homogeneous samples. The pooled sample included 418 young adult female students (Mage = 21.21 years). Depressed affect items were used to measure depressive symptomatology. All three feelings indicating depressed affect increased substantially and significantly from 2020 to 2021: feeling depressed (23% vs. 38%), lonely (16% vs. 43%), and sad (21% vs. 49%). In 2021, female students had almost a three-fold increase in the odds of reporting at least two out of three depressed affect symptoms compared to 2020 (19% vs. 43%; aOR 2.97; 95% CI 1.59–5.54; p < 0.001), adjusted for sociodemographic and socioeconomic confounders. Our findings suggest that Slovenian female students’ mental health deteriorated during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Public health professionals’ efforts to combat the pandemic’s mental health-related negative short-term and potential long-term impacts should thus focus on young people, especially on younger female students. |
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| Keywords: | depressive symptoms, depressed affect, students, covid-19, mental health, pandemic |
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| Publication status: | Published |
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| Publication version: | Version of Record |
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| Submitted for review: | 31.05.2023 |
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| Article acceptance date: | 14.09.2023 |
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| Publication date: | 15.09.2023 |
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| Publisher: | MDPI |
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| Year of publishing: | 2023 |
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| Number of pages: | Str. 1-13 |
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| Numbering: | Letn. 15, Št. 18, št. članka 13776 |
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| PID: | 20.500.12556/DKUM-88091  |
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| UDC: | 316.346.32:159.974 |
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| ISSN on article: | 2071-1050 |
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| COBISS.SI-ID: | 165088259 |
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| DOI: | 10.3390/su151813776 |
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| Publication date in DKUM: | 09.04.2024 |
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| Views: | 538 |
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| Downloads: | 49 |
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| Metadata: |    |
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| Categories: | Misc.
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