{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,15]],"date-time":"2026-09-15T05:02:57Z","timestamp":1789448577503,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":36,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,15]],"date-time":"2026-09-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1789430400000},"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. Public Health"],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Depression and anxiety symptoms are prevalent among college students and significantly affect their academic performance, interpersonal functioning, and long-term well-being. Repeated cross-sectional surveys can reveal temporal variations in symptom burden, yet rigorous data harmonization is essential to ensure valid cross-year comparisons. This study aimed to harmonize three waves of questionnaire survey data and provide a comprehensive descriptive summary of depressive and anxiety symptoms among Chinese college students.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Questionnaire submissions were recorded from 9 November 2023 to 3 January 2024, 14 May to 14 June 2024, and 7 April to 5 May 2025. Student identifiers were used to identify repeated within-wave submissions and overlap across administrations. After retaining the earliest response per student within each administration, 4,236 records remained (2023: 1,998; 2024: 1,743; 2025: 495). Depressive and anxiety symptoms were measured using the PHQ-9 and GAD-7. Inter-administration comparisons used Kruskal-Wallis and chi-square tests with effect sizes. Generalized estimating equations accounted for repeated observations of the same student. Internal consistency, PHQ-9\/GAD-7 convergence, and multivariable correlates of PHQ-9 Item 9 endorsement were evaluated.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The analytic dataset included 4,236 wave-specific records from 2,782 unique students; 240 students participated in all three administrations. Overall mean PHQ-9 and GAD-7 scores were 5.08\u202f\u00b1\u202f4.08 and 3.21\u202f\u00b1\u202f3.70, respectively. Differences across administrations were statistically significant (PHQ-9 epsilon-squared\u202f=\u202f0.006; GAD-7 epsilon-squared\u202f=\u202f0.007). In age- and sex-adjusted GEE models, the 2024 administration had higher PHQ-9 scores than 2023 (adjusted mean difference 0.49, 95% CI 0.24\u20130.74), whereas the 2025 difference was not significant. PHQ-9 and GAD-7 demonstrated high internal consistency (alpha\u202f=\u202f0.890 and 0.937) and strong convergence (Spearman rho\u202f=\u202f0.798).<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Mild depressive and anxiety symptoms were highly prevalent in this college cohort, while moderate-to-severe symptoms affected a clinically significant minority. The temporal peak in 2024 and the persistent elevation of self-harm ideation in 2025, underscore the necessity of a tiered campus mental health strategy and the critical importance of independent, continuous suicide risk surveillance. The harmonized dataset provides a robust foundation for future longitudinal risk-factor modeling and evidence-based intervention planning.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2026.1917300","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,15]],"date-time":"2026-09-15T04:26:36Z","timestamp":1789446396000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Depressive and anxiety symptoms among college students in Anhui Province, China: three repeated cross-sectional surveys"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Xiaomei","family":"Gao","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University","place":["Hefei, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Siqi","family":"Mu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Endocrinology, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine","place":["Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wanrong","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Inflammation and Immune Mediated Diseases Laboratory of Anhui Province, Key Laboratory of Anti-inflammatory of Immune Medicines, Ministry of Education, Anhui Institute of Innovative Drugs, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Anhui Medical University","place":["Hefei, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yan","family":"Ru","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University","place":["Hefei, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chengcheng","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University","place":["Hefei, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ping","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University","place":["Hefei, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Juan","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Life Sciences, Anhui Medical University","place":["Hefei, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yichang","family":"Du","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University","place":["Hefei, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"El Jaidi","family":"Imane","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University","place":["Hefei, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Qiu","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University","place":["Hefei, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Honglin","family":"Hu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University","place":["Hefei, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fang","family":"Dai","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University","place":["Hefei, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Peng","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Nursing, Anhui Medical University","place":["Hefei, Anhui, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yi","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University","place":["Hefei, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,15]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"347","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijnss.2021.05.013","article-title":"Prevalence and correlates of lifestyle behavior, anxiety and depression in Chinese college freshman: a cross-sectional survey","volume":"8","author":"Gao","year":"2021","journal-title":"Int J Nurs Sci"},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"923","DOI":"10.1186\/s12888-023-05442-z","article-title":"Anxiety, depression, and their comorbidity among Chinese college students during the COVID-19 lockdown in the post-epidemic era: an online cross-sectional 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