Mental Health: Global Challenges Journal
https://mhgcj.org ISSN 2612-2138
Prevalence of depression and anxiety among
university students during COVID-19 in
Bangladesh: A cross sectional study
Minhazur Rahman Rezvi, Md Rakib Hossain, Fariha Haque
University of Dhaka, Bangladesh
Address for correspondence:
Minhazur Rahman Rezvi, MSS, Department of Development Studies, University of Dhaka
Email: minhazurrahmanrezvi@gmail.com
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 International
License (CC BY-NC 4.0).
©Copyright: Rezvi, Hossain, Haque, 2022
Publisher: Sciendo (De Gruyter)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.56508/mhgcj.v5i2.140
Submitted for publication: 12
April 2022
Revised: 01 August 2022
Accepted for publication: 07
August 2022
Mental Health: Global Challenges Journal
https://mhgcj.org ISSN 2612-2138
Introduction
COVID-19 outbreak has become one of the
most devastating and challenging crisis for public
health in the contemporary world (Islam et al.,
2020). This pandemic has rapidly compounded its
public health burden (Torales et al., 2020) and
has been recognized as a greater risk for
deteriorating mental health conditions of
individuals (WHO 2020a). Along with public
health, the COVID-19 pandemic has a significant
impact on the social and economic aspects
(Bhuiyan et al., 2020; Nicola et al., 2020). In
December 2019, the coronavirus disease
(COVID- 19) pandemic was first identified in a
seafood market in Wuhan City, Hubei in China,
started to spread quickly throughout the world
(Wang et al., 2020). In January 2020, the WHO
declared the outbreak of COVID-19 infection as a
public health emergency of worldwide concern
(WHO, 2020a). Subsequently, on March 11, 2020,
WHO declared COVID-19 as a pandemic (WHO,
2020b). The incidence and mortality due to
COVID-19 have increased dramatically around
the world. Until now, over 56,660,391 people have
infected in the COVID-19 in the world, causing
more than 1,356,705 deaths (As of 19 November
2020; Worldometers, 2020).
Lockdown is considered as effective measure
in slowing the spread of COVID-19 around the
globe (Barkur et al., 2020; Flaxman et al., 2020).
Like other countries, Bangladesh reported the first
COVID-19 case on March 8, 2020 (Daily star,
2020a), and although initially, the virus spread
slowly, a rapid case increment started in April
(Satu et al., 2020). After first COVID-19 detection,
Bangladesh also put the lockdown strategy into
effect on March 26, 2020, to ensure ‘social
distance’ through ‘home quarantine’ to curb the
‘spread’ of the virus among its population (Jahid,
2020; Bhuiyan et al., 2020; Bodrud-Doza et al.,
2020). Although the COVID-19 virus has affected
all districts of the country and around 4 41,159
confirmed cases, 6,305 people died in
Bangladesh (on 19 November 2020;
Worldometers, 2020). However, all education
institutions were shutdown initially from March 18,
2020, to March 31, 2020, across the country and
later extended to November 14, 2020, in phases
(Dhaka tribune, 2020a; Dhaka tribune, 2020b).
Consequently, it has created uncertainty about
academic and professional careers among the
students which intensified mental health problems
among university students (Hossain et al., 2019;
Shamsuddin et al., 2013). Furthermore, COVID-
19, tertiary education institutions have shifted to
an emergency online learning format, which would
be expected to exacerbate more academic
stressors for students (Grubic et al. 2020). Like
other countries, most of the major public
universities in Bangladesh have started to take
online classes, including Dhaka University which
started online classes in July (Daily star, 2020b).
Due to students with fewer facilities (i.e., high
internet service costs, poor internet connection in
the rural area, not having access to a digital
device, etc.), only half or even more students
could not access online class, might be potential
mental distress mediating factors (Islam et al.,
2020; Daily star, 2020b). A study showed that
35.5% of participants (medical students) were in a
state of depression, and 22.1% were in a state of
anxiety (Liu et al., 2020). Cao et al. (2020)
confirmed that 24.9% of Chinese college students
experienced the negative impact of the Covid-19
crisis on mental health due to academic delays
and the economic effects of the pandemic.
Moreover, financial instability, lack of personal
space at home, fear of infecting other family
members, and insecure potential jobs may lead to
a wide range of psychiatric challenges for
university students (Cao et al., 2020; Wang et al.,
2020).
Purpose
This article aims to investigate the impact of
COVID-19 on the mental health status of
university students of Bangladesh. It also attempts
to explore associate factors to mental health (i.e.,
depression and anxiety) and relieving factors
(activities of students) of depression and anxiety
since previous studies done on this area have not
explored these factors. To evaluate the mental
health status of students, this study use Patient
Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and Generalized
Anxiety Disorder 7 (GAD-7) screening tools.
Methodology
An online survey was conducted among
students to gather the necessary data. The survey
was conducted from 19th September to 18th
October. During this pandemic, all the educational
institutions were closed, and students were not
able to go out because of quarantine. Depression
was measured by the Patient Health
Questionnaire (PHQ-9). PHQ-9 is useful for
screening depression of the responses that are
used to predict depression of an individual and
what state he/she is in during the survey. The
scores in PHQ-9 range from ‘0 = not at all’ to ‘3 =
nearly every day’ (Kroenke et al., 2001). Levels of
depression were characterized as ‘non-minimal =
0–4’, ‘mild = 5–9’, ‘moderate = 10–14,’
‘moderately severe = 15–19,’ ‘severe = > 20.’
Anxiety was assessed by Generalized Anxiety
Disorder (GAD-7). The questions in the
questionnaire scale range from ‘0 = not at all sure’
to ‘3 = nearly every day’ (Spitzer et al., 2006). The
levels of anxiety for the study were characterized
as ‘mild = 5–9,’ ‘moderate = 10–14, and ‘severe =
> 15’.
Mental Health: Global Challenges Journal
https://mhgcj.org ISSN 2612-2138
PHQ-9 and GAD7 were proved to be useful
reliable tools in various studies for detecting
depression (Martin et al., 2006; Hossain et al.,
2019). Numerous studies used these methods to
measure anxiety and depression in various
countries (Milić et al., 2019; Liu et al., 2020).
Considering its reliability and widespread usage,
this study will use these two methods to measure
the mental health of university students.
The independent variables taken from the
literature (i.e., gender, age, living area, family
members’ contact with Covis-19, watching TV,
talking with friends and family, spending time in
reading and writing, and lastly, doing religious
activities) consist mostly of factor variables which
range from 0 to 1. If an individual falls into a
specific category s/he was specified as 0 if not
then 1(e.g., if male and 0 if female). Some
continuous variables (i.e., number of activities
performed, family income threshold, and affiliation
with the university) are also included in the
analysis, and they can take any number (e.g., 1 or
7).
Descriptive statistical analysis was conducted
to describe the characteristics of the participants.
Ordered Logistic Regression analysis was done to
predict the association of psychological measures
(PHQ and GAD7) to potential factors. The PHQ
categorizes depression, and as non-minimal, mild,
moderate, moderately severe, and severe, and
GAD7 categorizes anxiety as mild, minimal,
moderate, and severe. This study used OLR since
there is an order in place, and these categories
can be considered as the Likert scale, and a p-
value of ≤0.05 was considered to be significant.
Some of the previous studies done using the
Likert scale mostly use OLR to analyze their data
(Eboli and Mazzulla, 2009), and it stated that OLR
can be used in this case (Hedeker, 2014). After
the regression analysis, assumptions related to
OLR were checked using Omodel and Brant test
which are usually used to test proportional odds
assumption and parallel regressions assumption
(Williams and Quiroz, 2020). The tests conclude
that the overall model does not violate any
assumptions, and the results obtained from the
analysis can be considered reliable.
Results
Table 1 describes the variables, and Table
2 shows the prevalence of anxiety and depression
among students. Out of the Total 203 responses,
mild to severe depression was found among 161
(79%)students. Surprisingly almost everyone face
mild to severe anxiety symptoms. 59 % (119) of
participants were male, and 97% (197) were
within 18 to 25 years. 66% (134) of students live
in urban areas, and the rest are in rural areas.
Mostly (28.7%) students came from a family
having 10000 TK to 30000 TK monthly income.
19.2 %( 39) students were from families having
below 10000 TK monthly income while 24.8 %
(51) students are from affluent families. Family
members of 86.7 % (170) students were not
infected by COVID-19. Almost 5 %( 11) students
were idle during this pandemic. Mostly (39%)
were busy with doing single activities.43.9% (87)
students spent their time watching TV, 46% (93)
students read and wrote, 49% (100) students
spent time with their family and friends,42% (86)
students were busy with religious activities.
Table 1: Frequency table for different selected variables.
Variables
Percentage
Frequency (N= 203)
Gender
Female
41%
84
Male
59%
119
Age
18-25
97%
197
Above 25
3%
6
Current student affiliation with the University
1st and 2nd year
33%
67
3rd year and above
67%
137
Living area
Urban
66%
134
Rural
34%
69
Family income
Mental Health: Global Challenges Journal
https://mhgcj.org ISSN 2612-2138
Below Tk. 10,000
19%
39
Tk. 10,000-30,000
29%
58
Tk. 30,000-50,000
27%
55
Above Tk. 50,000
25%
51
Family been infected by Covid-19
No
86.7
170
Yes
13.3
33
Number of activities performed
0 to 3
75%
153
4 to 7
25%
50
Activities performed
Did not watch TV
56.1
116
Watched TV
43.9
87
Reading and writing
Done reading and writing
46%
93
Did not read or write
54%
110
Talk with friend and families
Did not talk
51%
103
Talked
49%
100
Doing religious activities
Did not (0)
58%
117
Did (1)
42%
86
Table 3 illustrates the descriptive statistics of
variables and the prevalence of anxiety and
depression among them. The analysis showed
that female suffered more depression (i.e.,
moderate 24% and moderately severe 17%) and
anxiety (17% moderate and 30% severe)
compared to their male counterpart (20%
moderate and 1% moderately severe depression
while 16% moderate and 14% severe anxiety).
Among fresh graduates, only 3% of students were
found to have moderately severe to severe
depression while 23% and 13% of masters’
students were in moderately severe to severe
depression. Anxiety was also found to be severe
among students from senior and master’s years
(23%) compared to their younger counterparts
(13%). Prevalence of moderately severe to severe
depression was found to be high (14% and 12%)
among students from urban areas compared to
students living in the rural area (7% and 1%).
However, students from the urban area suffered
less anxiety (16% moderate anxiety vs. 17%
among rural students) though they also faced
26% severe anxiety compared to 12% among
rural students.
Students with family income less than 10000
TK have faced 5% moderately severe and severe
depression while students with family income
more than 50000 TK suffered 20% and 14%
moderately severe and severe depression. Similar
to students living in rural areas, students from low-
income families suffer from 15% moderate anxiety
compared to 12% among students from high-
income family though they face severe anxiety
more than students from low-income families
(29% vs. 8%). The result also indicated that
students whose family member has been in
contact with Covid-19 have higher depression
(18% severe) and anxiety (30% severe) compared
to students whose family member has not been
intact with Covid-19 who suffered from 6% and
18% severe anxiety and also severe depression.
.
Mental Health: Global Challenges Journal
https://mhgcj.org ISSN 2612-2138
Table 2: Prevalence of anxiety and depression
Anxiety
Frequency
Percentage
Depression
Frequency
Percentage
Mild anxiety
64
32%
Mild
77
38%
Minimal
anxiety
64
32%
Moderate
43
21%
Moderate
anxiety
33
16%
Moderately severe
24
12%
Severe
anxiety
42
21%
None-minimal
42
21%
Severe
17
8%
Students with family income less than 10000
TK have faced 5% moderately severe and severe
depression while students with family income
more than 50000 TK suffered 20% and 14%
moderately severe and severe depression. Similar
to students living in rural areas, students from low-
income families suffer from 15% moderate anxiety
compared to 12% among students from high-
income family though they face severe anxiety
more than students from low-income families
(29% vs. 8%). The result also indicated that
students whose family member has been in
contact with Covid-19 have higher depression
(18% severe) and anxiety (30% severe) compared
to students whose family member has not been
intact with Covid-19 who suffered from 6% and
18% severe anxiety and also severe depression.
Table 3: Descriptive statistics of depression and anxiety among students
Depression
Variables
none-
mini
mal
Percen
tage
Mild
Percen
tage
Mode
rate
percenta
ge
moder
ately
severe
percen
tage
sever
e
Percen
tage
Gender
Female
18
21%
53
63%
20
24%
14
17%
8
1%
Male
24
20%
24
20%
23
20%
10
1%
9
1%
Age
18-25
40
20%
76
39%
42
21%
24
12%
15
8%
Above
25
2
33%
1
17%
1
17%
0
2
33%
Current student affiliation with
the University
1-st year
9
30%
9
30%
10
33%
1
3%
1
3%
2-nd year
4
19%
22
60%
7
20%
2
5%
2
5%
3-rd year
7
16%
20
44%
10
22%
6
13%
2
4%
4-th year
8
20%
13
33%
6
15%
7
18%
6
15%
fresh
graduate
8
40%
4
20%
3
15%
4
20%
1
5%
Masters
6
19%
9
29%
7
23%
4
13%
5
16%
Living area
Urban
30
22%
42
31%
27
20%
19
14%
16
12%
Rural
12
17%
35
51%
16
23%
5
7%
1
1%
Mental Health: Global Challenges Journal
https://mhgcj.org ISSN 2612-2138
Family income?
(Monthly)
Below
Tk. 10k
8
21%
17
44%
9
23%
2
5%
2
5%
10-30k
16
28%
20
34%
14
24%
5
9%
3
5%
30-50k
8
15%
21
38%
12
22%
7
13%
7
13%
Above
50k
9
18%
18
35%
8
16%
10
20%
7
14%
Family been
infected by
Covid-19
No
39
23%
67
39%
36
21%
17
10%
11
6%
Yes
3
9%
10
30%
7
21%
7
21%
6
18%
Number of activities performed
0
1
24%
3
27%
2
18%
2
18%
1
14
18%
32
40%
19
40%
3
4%
4
5%
2
8
29%
8
29%
4
14%
11
39%
4
14%
3
8
24%
11
32%
10
29%
4
12%
2
6%
4
1
5%
12
57%
4
19%
3
14%
2
10%
5
6
30%
8
40%
3
15%
2
10%
2
10%
6
4
50%
2
25%
1
13%
1
13%
1
13%
7
1
100%
Activities
performed
No
25
22%
40
34%
27
23%
13
11%
8
7%
Yes
17
20%
37
43%
16
18%
11
13%
9
10%
Done Reading and
writing
Yes
17
18%
35
38%
23
25%
8
9%
11
12%
No
24
22%
42
38%
19
17%
16
15%
8
7%
Talk with friend
and families
No
19
18%
36
35%
23
22%
15
15%
10
10%
Yes
22
22%
41
41%
20
20%
9
9%
8
8%
Done relig.
activities
No
21
18%
42
36%
26
22%
18
15%
10
9%
Yes
21
24%
35
41%
17
20%
6
7%
7
8%
Anxiety
Mental Health: Global Challenges Journal
https://mhgcj.org ISSN 2612-2138
Variables.
Mini
mal
Percen
tage
mild
percen
tage
mode
rate
percenta
ge
severe
percentage
Gender
Female
20
24%
26
31%
14
17%
25
30%
Male
44
37%
38
32%
19
16%
17
14%
Age
18-25
61
31%
63
32%
33
18%
40
20%
Above
25
3
50%
1
17%
2
33%
Current student affiliation with
the University
1st year
17
57%
6
20%
4
13%
4
13%
2nd
13
35%
10
27%
10
27%
3
8%
3rd
9
20%
19
42%
8
18%
9
20%
4th
10
25%
9
23%
7
18%
14
35%
fresh
graduate
8
40%
6
30%
1
5%
5
25%
Masters
7
23%
14
45%
3
10%
7
23%
Living
area
Urban
42
31%
37
28%
21
16%
35
26%
Rural
22
32%
26
38%
12
17%
8
12%
Family income?
(Monthly)
Below
Tk. 10k
14
36%
16
41%
6
15%
3
8%
10-30k
21
36%
15
26%
10
17%
12
21%
30-50k
18
33%
13
24%
11
20%
12
22%
Above
50k
11
22%
20
39%
6
12%
15
29%
Family been
infect.Covid-19
No
56
33%
55
32%
28
16%
31
18%
Yes
8
24%
9
27%
6
18%
10
30%
Number of activities
performed
0
3
27%
3
27%
2
18%
3
27%
1
23
29%
27
34%
18
23%
14
18%
2
7
25%
9
32%
3
11%
9
32%
3
14
6%
8
24%
5
15%
7
21%
4
7
33%
7
33%
3
14%
3
14%
5
7
35%
7
35%
2
10%
4
20%
Mental Health: Global Challenges Journal
https://mhgcj.org ISSN 2612-2138
6
3
38%
2
25%
0
2
25%
7
0
1
0
0
Watched
TV
No
39
34%
37
32%
18
16%
19
16%
Yes
25
29%
27
31%
15
17%
23
26%
Done Reading and
writing
Yes
30
32%
32
34%
10
11%
22
24%
No
34
31%
32
29%
23
21%
20
18%
Talk with friend
and families
No
32
31%
38
37%
22
21%
25
24%
Yes
32
32%
26
26%
11
11%
17
17%
Done religious
activities
No
34
29%
38
32%
21
18%
23
20%
Yes
30
35%
26
30%
12
14%
17
20%
Students who performed multiple activities also
tended to have less anxiety and depression.
Students who performed at least 6 activities
reported to have 13% moderate and severe
depression while students with 1 activity reported
18% depression. Anxiety was also high among
students who did less activities. The descriptive
statistics also found that students who done
religious prayers, talked with friends and family
and did not watch TV reported less anxiety and
depression compared to students who done
the contrary.
Table 4: Result of regression analysis
Anxiety
Depression
Variables
B
Odds ratio
P Value
B
Odds ratio
P Value
Gender
-0.7767204
0.459912
0.007**
-0.4598762
0.629848
0.102
Students
Affiliation
0.1939977
1.214093
0.025*
0.1066117
1.10407
0.214
Family
income
-0.1727173
0.841376
0.188
-0.0452464
0.952321
0.728
Family
contact with
Covid
0.1678431
1.182751
0.655
0.974859
2.639802
0.008**
Watching TV
0.8628934
2.370008
0.012*
0.5127267
1.608821
0.126
Talk with
friend and
families
-0.1641943
0.848577
0.616
-0.0594845
0.933966
0.854
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Number of
activities
-0.3022578
0.739148
0.084
-0.3618266
0.71459
0.035*
Reading and
writing
-0.2196312
0.802815
0.54
-0.7212372
0.495631
0.043*
Age
-0.9571335
0.383992
0.276
-0.3150179
0.729776
0.734
Religious
activities
0.3290569
1.389657
0.354
0.0769458
1.079984
0.825
Note: *P-value<0.05, **P-value <0.01, B= coefficient
In Table 4, the regression analysis revealed that
three of the variables ware significant in
determining anxiety. Gender was found to be
significant in determining anxiety which means
that maleinclined to have less anxiety than
females (B= -0.78, p<0.01). Student’s current
affiliation with the university and watching TV
were also significant in determining anxiety which
we also found in descriptive analysis. Students
who were in their graduation year or post-
graduation year inclined to have higher anxiety
than students in the first or second year (B= 0.19,
p<0.5). Among the activities, watching TV was
found to be significant in determining anxiety so,
students who watch TV inclined to have higher
anxiety (B=0.86, p<0.05) than students who did
not watch TV during the quarantine.
Variables that influenced anxiety significantly
did not seem to have a significant relationship with
depression. The result showed that depression
was significantly related to family member’s
contact with Covid-19, reading and writing, and
several activities. Students whose family had
been in contact with Covid-19 seemed to have
higher depression (B= 0.97, p<0.01) compared to
students whose family members did not come into
contact with Covid-19. Among the activities,
students who did reading and writing tended to
have more depression (B= -0.71, p<0.05) than
students who did not. Also, the number of
activities or hobbies were significantly related to
depression (B= -36, p<0.05). Students who have
done more activities (e.g., 5, 6) tend to have less
depression than students who did few activities
Discussion
The findings of this study agree with some
previous studies though they differ with the results
in some respects. The study found that a high rate
of depression and anxiety exist among university
student and some previous studies also found
similar results. For example, Khan et al. (2020)
found that 33.3% of anxiety and 46.92% of mild to
extremely severe depression were affected
among students of Bangladesh. Moreover,
several studies were conducted in other countries
like Wang et al. (2020) also found a high level of
depression among people at the initial level of
quarantine. Various factors are responsible for
deteriorating the quality of mental health among
students during the pandemic. The Covid-19 has
severed personal communication, and increased
student’s academic uncertainty is considered a
substantial factor of depression and anxiety
(Mushtaq et al., 2014; Roy et al., 2020).
This study found that a higher level of anxiety
during quarantine was related to student’s gender
and their affiliations status (i.e., sophomore,
masters) in university. Among quarantine
activities, watching TV was found to be
significantly related to anxiety. Depression had a
significant relationship with the family member’s
infection with Covid-19. Also, several factors
along with reading and writing were related to
depression. Furthermore, some other factors(i.e.,
religious prayers, talking with friends and family,
family income level) influenced the mental health
of students in descriptive statistics, but they were
not found significant in inferential statistics. A
detailed discussion can make sense of these
variables.
As in previous studies, the study found that
gender status was significantly related to anxiety
during the COVID-19. Women tended to have a
higher level of anxiety compared to men for
cognitive and physical reasons (Bahrami and
Yousefi, 2011; Hosseini and Khazali, 2013).
Various studies were conducted to find the causal
relationships behind the women’s higher level of
anxiety. Women incline to ruminate over a
particular issue more than men, therefore,
become victims to higher levels of anxiety
(Johnson and Whisman, 2013). The findings
stated that women were affected by more anxiety
than men during the Covid-19 crisis. However,
some studies reported that they did not found any
significant difference between men and women in
mental health status (Islam et al., 2020). On the
contrary, a study showed that there was a higher
level of anxiety among the male population than
women (Wang et al., 2020).
Some of the previous studies done on mental
health among students during quarantine did not
find or explore the mental health status among
students of different years (Islam et al., 2020;
Khan et al., 2020). This study included students’
current affiliation status at university and found
Mental Health: Global Challenges Journal
https://mhgcj.org ISSN 2612-2138
that students’ years of studying at the university
have a significant relationship with anxiety.
Students from senior, fresh graduate and post-
graduate levels are more like to face anxiety than
freshmen or sophomore students. On the
contrary, previous studies (i.e., before the
quarantine) found that freshman and sophomores
were more likely to face anxiety (Wyatt and
Oswalt, 2013; Eleftheriades, et al., 2020).
Eleftheriades et al. (2020) stated that it might not
be the case that post-graduate and senior have
minimal anxiety, but a selection bias might be in
work here. Even students with higher anxiety do
not continue their studies; so, only students with
stable mental health can continue their studies at
senior and post-graduate levels. However, a study
found similar findings as this study that a higher
level of anxiety was related to other students than
freshmen during this quarantine (Kecojevic et al.,
2020). So, students studying in university in the
post-graduate or senior year have suffered from
anxiety where selection bias does not occur.
Halting academic progress and uncertainty of
employment opportunities might be a reason
behind this problem.
During quarantine, a high proportion of
students were watching movies and TV shows;
this study found that it was significantly related to
anxiety. Recent studies on mental health during
COVID-19 have not considered this factor (Islam
et al., 2020; Khan et al., 2020; Wang et al., 2020)
though previous studies found that there was a
positive relationship between binge-watching TV
and level of anxiety and depression (Wheeler,
2015; Madhav et al., 2017). Due to lockdown,
people could not go outside, and watching TV was
found as the most common activity among
respondents; they spent more time on TV when
having no home activities to do. Other activities
like gardening or petting animals were found as
regular activities among participants during
quarantine to avoid mental health stress.
Reading and writing thought to improve mental
health (Lewis, 2009; Baikie and Wilhelm, 2005),
but this study found that students with a higher
level of depression performed more reading and
writing than students with a lower level of
depression. The reasons were excessive reading
and writing, and academic workloads during
lockdown had different influences on students’
mental health status. Students were facing a
higher level of depression because of online
classes and academic workload. Similarly,
previous studies stated that students’ mental
health deteriorates when academic workload
increase (Aidan, 2018; Cheung et al., 2020).
Universities of Bangladesh were taking online
classes even though a large number of students
did not have enough resources to access online
classes. Academic workloads with technical
inaccessibility of students increased the level of
anxiety and depression among them.
The study found that Students’ (i.e.,
participants) performed several activities during
lockdown were highly related to their depression
level. The performed activities (e.g., gardening,
petting animals, and talking with friends) of
participants were influenced to improve their
mental health. Takeda et al. (2015) also stated
that performing multiple activities can keep
desirable physical and mental health status
(Pressman et al., 2009). Even though single
activity such as prayers or talking with friends and
family were not significantly related to depression,
therefore, it indicated that doing multiple activities
together improved an individual's mental health
status.\
It also found that Covid-19 infection among
family members was significantly related to
depression. Individuals whose family members
were infected by the Covid-19 had a higher level
of depression. Several studies reported that fear
of infection to Covid-19 might result in
deteriorating mental health (Hossain et al., 2020;
Ahorsu et al., 2020; Wang et al., 2020) though
they did not assess the impact of confirmed cases
on mental health. Previous studies (i.e., pre-
COVID-19) showed similar findings that any family
member's hospitalization increased depression
and anxiety (Belayachi et al., 2013; Fonseca et
al., 2019).
In terms of depression and anxiety, descriptive
statistics found that most of the people who did
not perform religious activities, did not spend
much time talking with friends or family, and had a
family income more than 30,000 TK related to
have a higher level of anxiety and depression; but
those variables were not significant in inferential
statistics. These factors might not significantly
relate to mental health, or the small sample size is
making those variables insignificant. More
research including those factors with a large
sample size might reveal their proper relationship
with mental health.
Strengths and Limitations of the study
The study complements some previous studies
by including some detailed variables that have
significance about mental health. Findings of this
study filled in the gap through contributing a
detailed analysis of mental health during Covid-
19.
However, the small sample size is a limitation
that could not be overcome because of lack of
time and findings. Large sample size is desired
but it is not possible to acquire a large sample
size. Another limitation is that the responses are
not balanced (e.g., female 41% and male 59%).
Despite these setbacks, this study will add
valuable information to the existing.
Conclusions
Mental Health: Global Challenges Journal
https://mhgcj.org ISSN 2612-2138
The COVID-19’s lockdown, self-isolation, and
social distancing have increased the psychiatric
problems among the Bangladeshi people.
Specifically, the COVID-19 pandemic has also
created mental stress among college and
university students due to academic delays, fear
of the virus, financial instability, and uncertainty of
jobs (Cao et al., 2020; Wang et al., 2020;
Romash, 2020). This study has investigated the
impact of COVID-19 on the mental health status
of university students of Bangladesh. Like
previous studies, the study found that a high rate
of depression and anxiety exist among university
student, and various factors were responsible for
psychiatric stress among students during the
quarantine. The study also observed that a higher
level of anxiety was significantly related to
student’s gender and students’ current affiliation
status (i.e., studying year) in university during the
crisis. Watching TV was also found to be
significantly related to anxiety. Depression had a
significant relationship with the family member’s
infection with Covid-19. Also, the number of
activities during quarantine (e.g., petting animals,
cooking, gardening) along with reading and writing
was found to be significantly related to
depression. Some factors (i.e., religious prayers,
talking with friends and family, family income
level) were found to be influencing mental health
in descriptive statistics, though they were not
statistically significant. Similar to other studies, it
was found that performing multiple activities (e.g.,
gardening, petting animals, talking with friends,
etc.) could work as vital factors to improve the
mental health of students. Also, Bangladesh’s
government, along with the universities should
consider the mental health issue as a challenging
problem; they should work together to minimize
the negative impacts on the mental health of
university students.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflicts
of interest.
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