Predictors of Students' Mental Health during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Impact of Coping Strategies, Sense of Coherence, and Social Support.

Young people and women seem to suffer more from social restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic than do others. Findings from pre-pandemic surveys identified students as a specific risk group for developing anxiety and depressive symptoms. Recent studies have indicated that students especially denoted a decrease in mental health during the pandemic. In a sample of n = 1938 university students (67.6% female), we investigated protective factors that are associated with mental health (defined as the absence of any mental disorder) and more specifically, the absence of major depression during the pandemic despite social restrictions. Investigated protective factors were social support, sense of coherence and situational coping strategies. The results of the multiple logistic regression analyses revealed that male gender, high sense of coherence and specific coping strategies could be identified to be associated with mental health in general and the absence of major depression. Protective coping strategies that were related to mental health in general were lower substance use, lower behavioral disengagement, higher positive reframing and lower self-blame. Protective coping strategies that were associated with the absence of major depression specifically were higher use of instrumental support, lower substance use, lower behavioral disengagement, higher positive reframing, higher emotional support, lower self-blame and lower humor. Social support was related to the absence of major depression, but not to mental health in general. Higher age in university students was associated with better mental health, but not with the absence of major depression specifically. These findings indicate that sense of coherence and situational coping strategies can buffer the adverse effect of social restrictions on mental health and thus, can serve as important resilience factors. Moreover, they highlight the political relevance of promoting specific coping strategies to foster mental health in students encompassing adverse events and social restrictions.

The COVID-19 Pandemic and Behavioral Addiction - New Challenges for Structural and Behavioral Prevention

Introduction and objective: The COVID-19 pandemic and the corresponding lockdown measures exemplified that special strategies of structural prevention as well as for behavioral prevention are needed with respect to online behavioral addictions. Rationale: The likelihood is high that the COVID-19 crisis and the accompanying measures to contain it have increased the risks for the development of behavioral addictions. Factors such as the discontinuation of terrestrial offers, social isolation and forced inactivity as well as the increased importance of online activities contribute to this. At the same time, the severity of disorders may have increased and chances of remission may have decreased. An increased risk of relapse can also be assumed. Conclusion: Epidemiological studies are necessary to investigate changes in prevalence, care needs and risk factors. There is a need to develop measures for structural prevention as well as for behavioral prevention. Tracking online behavior could serve as a measure to identify risky behavior patterns and could be the starting point for measures such as interrupting games or applications, warnings and information as well as concrete offers of early intervention or further help. The providers are in charge for taking responsibility for their products, minimizing the risk of behavioral addictions and enabling as well as providing measures for early detection and intervention.