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Wantong Han,1– 3 Lingzhong Xu,1– 3 Aimin Niu,4 Yurong Jing,1– 3 Wenzhe Qin,1– 3 Jiao Zhang,1– 3 Xiang Jing,5 Yali Wang6 1Centre for Health Management and Policy Research, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, People’s Republic of China; 2NHC Key Laboratory of Health Economics and Policy Research, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, People’s Republic of China; 3Center for Health Economics Experiment and Public Policy Research, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Public Health, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, People’s Republic of China; 5Yuncheng Central Hospital, Yuncheng, Shanxi, People’s Republic of China; 6Henan Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Zhengzhou, Henan, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Lingzhong XuSchool of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Mailbox No. 110, 44 Wenhuaxi Road, Jinan, 250012, Shandong, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86-0531-8838-2648Fax +86-0531-88382533Email lzxu@sdu.edu.cnAimin NiuDepartment of Public Health, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, No. 324 Jingwu Road, Huaiyin District, Jinan, 250021, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86-1866-370-2722Fax +86-0531-87921022Email nam1106@163.comPurpose: Studies have suggested that public health emergencies can have many psychological effects on college students, therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate current situation of college students’ anxiety and its determinants in the time of an unexpected pandemic.Patients and Methods: We conducted convenience sampling to collect the data through network-based online questionnaires in February 2020, a total of 17,876 college students were included in the analysis. Chi-square test and multivariate logistic were used to identify the associations between the outbreak experiences and anxiety detection.Results: This study found that detection rate of anxiety among college students was 18.2%. The differences in male students, students whose self-perceived risk of infection were high, who were greatly affected by the outbreak, eager to go back to school, reluctant to leave home and stay at home enough were of statistical significance among different anxiety level (OR> 1, P< 0.05). And the severe anxiety rate of students who living in cities was significantly higher (2.337[1.468, 3.721]).Conclusion: Although our results show that anxiety among college students was at a low level, various universities should focus on the online activities and develop appropriate epidemic management plans to prevent their feelings of worry, tension and panic.Keywords: anxiety, college students, network-based, COVID-19

Objectives To understand the status of positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) on university and college students, and to explore the determinants during the COVID-19 outbreak. Methods Our data were from network-based survey, and 17,876 participants completed the questionnaire. t test, one-way ANOVA and multiple linear regression model were performed using PANAS (Positive and Negative Affect Schedule) score as the dependent variable. Results Of 17,876 participants, the mean score of PA was 25.5 ± 7.3, while NA was 19.1 ± 7.1. Multiple linear regression models showed that there are some common determinants of PA and NA, such as education, health literacy on communicable diseases, satisfaction with measures for epidemic prevention and control, risk of infection, impact of the outbreak on daily life, sleep duration and frequency of hand washing in the past 2 weeks. Besides, whether the student is a medical major and whether outing in the past 2 weeks were specific determinants of PA, and frequency of masks wearing was specific determinant of NA. Conclusions The outbreak of COVID-19 is detrimental to university and college students’ affect. During the outbreak response, we should strengthen the guidance and regulation for negative affect and pay attention to improving the positive affect of university and college students.

Background: The psychology of university and college students is immature, they are thus more likely to suffer from depression due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The present study aims to investigate the self-reported depression status of Chinese university and college students and explore its influencing factors.Methods: We conducted a network-based online survey, and a total of 17,876 participants completed the questionnaire. Depression was measured by the Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS). Univariate analysis and multivariate logistic analysis were performed to explore the influencing factors of self-reported depression symptoms.Results: The proportion of self-reported depression symptoms, mild self-reported depression symptoms, and moderate to severe (M/S) self-reported depression symptoms was 65.2, 53.7, and 11.5%, respectively. The mean score of self-reported depression was 54.8 ± 9.0. Female, personality type of partial introversion, junior college educational level, “moderate” or “high” self-perceived risk of infection, “moderately” or “highly” impacted by the outbreak, and being eager to go back to school were risk factors for M/S self-reported depression symptoms (p < 0.05). While, “moderate” or “high” concern about the outbreak, “moderate” or “high” satisfaction with pandemic prevention and control measures, and having health literacy on communicable diseases were protective factors for M/S self-reported depression symptoms (p < 0.05).Conclusion: The status of self-reported depression symptoms among university and college students was severer than expected, and the influencing factors were multifaceted. Government and school administrators should strengthen the dissemination of knowledge on disease prevention and control. Moreover, much attention should be paid to female and junior college students.