Open Access

ARTICLE

College Students’ Academic Stressors on Mental Health during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Comparison between Graduating Students and Non-Graduating Students

by Jiaqi Yang¹, Yanwen Zhang², Peng Li^2,3,4, Huan Zhang^2,3,4, Tour Liu^2,3,4,*

1Collaborative Innovation Centre of Assessment toward Basic Education Quality, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China
2 Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China
3 Key Research Base of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education, Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China
4 Tianjin Social Science Laboratory of Students’ Mental Development and Learning, Tianjin, 300387, China

* Corresponding Author: Tour Liu. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Local Policy Responses in Relation to Mental Health Issues during the COVID-19 Pandemic)

International Journal of Mental Health Promotion 2022, 24(4), 603-618. https://doi.org/10.32604/ijmhp.2022.019406

Received 23 September 2021; Accepted 11 April 2022; Issue published 27 May 2022

Abstract

The study aimed to investigate the influence of academic stressors on mental health and the mediating effect of social support and self-identity among college students and further studied the difference between the graduating students and non-graduating students during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Recruiting 900 college students as subjects, used the college students’ academic stressors questionnaire, social support questionnaire, self-identity scale and depression anxiety stress scales (DASS-21). The results showed that: (1) The college students’ academic stressor positively predicted mental health; (2) Social support and self-identity mediated the relationship; (3) The model also held when academic stressors was replaced by work stressor, but there were differences between the graduating and non-graduating students; (4) The direct effect work stressor on mental health in the graduating group was not significant; (5) The non-graduating students’ work stressor could not predict mental health through social support.

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Keywords

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