{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,15]],"date-time":"2026-10-15T23:54:59Z","timestamp":1792108499339,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":48,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,14]],"date-time":"2026-01-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1768348800000},"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>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The COVID-19 pandemic served as a global, uncontrolled social isolation experiment, with especially pernicious effects on the wellbeing of young adults. We sought to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the wellbeing of university undergraduate students, distinguishing between factors related to infection prevalence and those linked to social restriction.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>277 total U.S. undergraduate students enrolled in a course on mental wellbeing and resilience that was offered once each year from 2020 to 2024. Students anonymously completed surveys assessing anxiety, depression, and subjective wellbeing on a weekly basis. These behavioral data were aggregated and investigated for associations with local COVID-19 case levels and a university social gathering meter.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Subjective wellbeing declined a few months into the COVID-19 pandemic in Fall 2020, remaining low in Fall 2021 and Spring 2022, with 63.7% of students at-risk for poor wellbeing over these three semesters based on the standard cutoff. Depression and anxiety peaked during Fall 2021 with 39.0% and 34.5% of students at-risk for anxiety and depressive disorders, respectively. Wellbeing gradually improved following the return to in-person learning in mid-Spring 2022. Over all five semesters, survey questions reflecting anhedonia associated with social gathering restrictions whereas questions assessing acute anxiety associated with local COVID-19 case levels.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Our findings highlight the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on university student wellbeing and suggest that COVID-19 infection prevalence and associated social isolation measures may have uniquely influenced different aspects of wellbeing. More research is needed to assess causality, while accounting for other potential socio-economic and academic factors.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyt.2025.1641305","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,14]],"date-time":"2026-01-14T10:51:02Z","timestamp":1768387862000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["University student wellbeing during COVID-19: associations with infection prevalence and social gathering restrictions in an observational study"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Donald J.","family":"Noble","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"The Center for the Study of Human Health, Emory University College of Arts and Sciences","place":["Atlanta, GA, United States"]},{"name":"Department of Cell Biology, Emory University School of Medicine","place":["Atlanta, GA, United 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