{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,10]],"date-time":"2026-07-10T03:23:48Z","timestamp":1783653828115,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":49,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,6]],"date-time":"2025-03-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1741219200000},"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. Psychiatry"],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Background<\/jats:title><jats:p>The COVID-19 pandemic emerged as an international public health emergency and threat to individual psychological resilience.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Objective<\/jats:title><jats:p>To examine the prevalence of psychological issues and identify key associations with mental health indicators in young adults (ages 18-28) worldwide during the initial phase of the pandemic.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>Through a cross-sectional online survey utilizing convenience sampling, we collected data on demographics, COVID-19-related questions, depression (Patient Health Questionnaire-9), anxiety (Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7), stress\/trauma (Impact of Event Scale-Revised), and fear of COVID-19 (Fear of COVID-19 scale) between September 2020-January 2021. A total of 183 were eligible analysis. All statistical analyses were set at alpha = 0.05.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>Over 70% of participants reported mild anxiety (n=129), 80% mild depression (n=136), 40% pandemic-related trauma (n=61), and 50% high fear (n=88). Female respondents reported higher anxiety (t(173)=-3.352, &amp;lt;.001), depression (t(166)=-3.310, P=.001), and trauma from COVID-19 ((t(151)=-2.004, P=.047). Hispanic\/Latino\/a\/x participants reported higher depression (F(2,156)=7.761, P&amp;lt;.001) and trauma scores (F(2,143)=3.999, P=.020). Age in 2020 was associated with trauma total scores (F(1,154)=4.230, P=0.041, R2 = 0.027). Individuals who were mandated a quarantine were linked to lower levels of anxiety (F(2,175)=3.442, P=.034) and depression (F(2,170)=3.092, P =.048) than those not mandated. Those quarantined with close contacts were linked to lower anxiety (t(162.184)=2.705, P =.008) and trauma (t(149)=2.169; P=.032). Close contacts\u2019 hospitalization from COVID-19 infections were linked to lower anxiety (t(127)=2.855, P=.005), depression(t(123)=3.111, P=.002), and trauma (t(152)=-1.975, P=.050).<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title><jats:p>The findings highlight the significant effect COVID-19 had on mental health in young adults worldwide.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyt.2025.1521395","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,6]],"date-time":"2025-03-06T06:51:01Z","timestamp":1741243861000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["Unmasking the psychological impact of the early COVID-19 pandemic in young adults: results from a cross-sectional online survey"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Omar","family":"Shazley","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Michelle 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