{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,29]],"date-time":"2026-09-29T17:52:55Z","timestamp":1790704375861,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":57,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,11]],"date-time":"2021-03-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1615420800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Psychol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Objective<\/jats:title><jats:p>The COVID-19 pandemic and government measures implemented to counter the spread of the infection may be a major stressor affecting the psychological health of university students. This study aimed to explore how anxiety symptoms changed during the pandemic.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>676 students (76% females) at Zurich University of Applied Sciences participated in the first (T0) and second (T1) survey waves. Anxiety symptoms were assessed using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-Scale-7 (GAD-7). Risk and protective factors (e.g., COVID-19-related variables) were examined.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>GAD-7 scores decreased significantly from T0 to T1 (mean change: \u22120.446, SE = 0.132, 95% CI: \u22120.706, \u22120.186, <jats:italic>t<\/jats:italic> = \u22123.371, <jats:italic>df<\/jats:italic> = 659, <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic> = 0.001). Participants with moderate-to-severe anxiety score were 20.2 and 15.6% at T0 and T1, respectively. The following positively predicted anxiety: older age, female gender, non-Swiss nationality, loneliness, participants\u2019 concern about their own health, and interaction between time and participants\u2019 concern about their own health. Resilience and social support negatively predicted anxiety.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title><jats:p>Our findings provide information for public health measures and psychological interventions supporting the mental health of university students during the COVID-19 emergency.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2021.643171","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,11]],"date-time":"2021-03-11T04:48:08Z","timestamp":1615438088000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":42,"title":["A Longitudinal Study on Generalized Anxiety Among University Students During the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Switzerland"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Simone","family":"Amendola","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Agnes","family":"von Wyl","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Thomas","family":"Volken","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Annina","family":"Zysset","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Marion","family":"Huber","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Julia","family":"Dratva","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,11]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"41","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ajp.2017.04.019","article-title":"Anxiety symptoms mediate the relationship between exposure to stressful negative life events and depressive symptoms: a conditional process modelling of the protective effects of resilience.","volume":"29","author":"Anyan","year":"2017","journal-title":"Asian J. 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