Psychological Impact of COVID-19 on Pakistani University Students and How They Are Coping

Background: COVID-19 is spreading quickly, causing great deal of fear and unrest in the public. We aimed to assess the psychological impact of COVID-19 on university students and their coping strategies. Methods: This web-based, cross-sectional study was conducted among students of four Pakistani higher education institutions. Google forms were used to disseminate the online questionnaire to assess anxiety (GAD-7), depression (PHQ-9), sources of distress (14-items) and the coping strategies (Brief-COPE). Results: A total of 1134 responses (age 21.7 ± 3.5 years) were included. The frequency of students having moderate-severe anxiety and depression (score ≥ 10) were ≈ 34% and 45%, respectively. The respondents′ aged ≥ 31 years had significantly lower depression score than those below 30 years. Males had significantly less anxiety and depression scores than females. Additionally, those having a family member, friend or acquaintance infected with the disease had significantly higher anxiety score. The main sources of distress were the changes in daily life due to the ongoing pandemic. Regarding coping strategies, majority of respondents were found to have adopted religious/spiritual coping (6.45 ± 1.68) followed by acceptance (5.58 ± 1.65). Conclusions: COVID-19 have significant adverse impact on students′ mental health. The most frequent coping strategy adopted by them are religious/spiritual coping, acceptance, self-distraction and active coping. It is suggested that mental health of students should not be neglected during epidemics.