Baseline beliefs, depression, anxiety, and stress in humanities students in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic can be seen as mental trauma. The concept of baseline beliefs helps to explain the extent to which mental trauma affects individuals. Objective(s) The study aimed to investigate baseline beliefs in humanities students in Russian universities and analyse the relationship between baseline beliefs and emotional reactions. Method(s) Data collection was carried out between May and July 2020 using a Google form that we developed. A total of 92 humanities students participated in the study. The WAS-37 was used to examine baseline beliefs, and the DASS-21 was used to determine depression, anxiety, and stress levels. Result(s) We found that the mean values of the scales "Benevolence in the World" (M = 34.8+/-6.5), "Self-image" (M = 27.2+/-4.4), "Luck" (M = 32.7+/-5.7) and "Controlling beliefs" (M = 27.9+/-4.0) were above the normative mean values for the Russian population and only the values of the scale "Justice" (M=20.8+/-3.8) were below these. All components of baseline beliefs had negative associations with depression, anxiety, and stress;only "Benevolence in the World" was associated exclusively with anxiety (rs = -0.223, p < 0.05), and "Justice" with depression (rs = -0.223, p < 0.05). Conclusion(s) In a pandemic, the world around them is perceived by humanities students as less fair. Trust in the world, beliefs about the fairness of the world and a positive self-image are correlated with a more favourable emotional state. By this, we support the view that individuals' implicit beliefs (baseline beliefs) are related to the severity of the traumatic event.