{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,21]],"date-time":"2026-10-21T15:29:12Z","timestamp":1792596552427,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":0,"publisher":"African Journals Online (AJOL)","issue":"1","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Afr H. Sci."],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: The Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic as a large scale stressor could have negative effects on the mental health of medical students. Since gender differences in mental health may exist, it is important to see if a large scale stressor like the pandemic may be associated with variances in the psychological distress between both genders.\r\nObjectives: To assess and compare the psychological distress of male and female medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic.\r\nMethods: A cross-sectional survey was carried out among 1010 medical students from three universities in southwestern Nigeria within the first six months of the first reported case of the COVID-19 pandemic. The respondents were purposively selected. Data was obtained online on participants\u2019 demographic and psychological distress using the General Health Questionnaire 12 (GHQ-12). Data was analyzed using the SPSS version 21, student t and chi-square tests were used to assess gender differences, and multivariate regression to assess the predictors of psychological distress among both genders. p values less than 0.05were considered statistically significant.\r\nResults: Overall, female participants (OR=1.455, 95% CI= 1.095-1.936) were twice more likely to have experienced psychological distress than males during the COVID-19 pandemic. Age (OR=0.922, 95% CI= 0.867-0.979), being in pre-clinical years (OR= 1.394, 95% CI= 1.004-1.938), having a family income less than 100,000 naira (OR= 1.379, 95% CI=1.442-6.723) a previous history of mental illness (OR=3.077, 95% CI= 1.430-6.615) and having a relative\/acquaintance diagnosed with COVID 19(OR=1.646, 95% CI= 1.062-2.551) were independently associated with psychological distress among the respondents. When comparing both genders,among females, age (OR=0.886, 95% CI= 0.803-0.978), family income less than 100,000 naira (OR=1.898, 95% CI= 1.306-2.759) and a previous history of mental illness (OR=5.266, 95% CI= 1.894-14.635) were associated with psychological distress, while, being in pre-clinical years (OR= 1.713, 95% CI= 1.052-2.790) was associated with psychological distress among males.\r\nConclusion: Females had more psychological distress compared to male students. It is recommended that gender-specific interventions addressing psychological distress among medical students are instituted.\r\nKeywords: Psychological distress; psychological impact; gender; COVID-19; medical students.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.4314\/ahs.v22i1.63","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,9]],"date-time":"2022-05-09T07:02:36Z","timestamp":1652079756000},"page":"541-50","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":22,"title":["A gender comparison of psychological distress among medical students in Nigeria during the Coronavirus pandemic: a cross-sectional survey"],"prefix":"10.4314","volume":"22","author":[{"given":"Oluwaseun","family":"Mercy Idowu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"OyinOluwa","family":"Gloria Adaramola","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Boluwatife","family":"Samson Aderounmu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ifeoluwa","family":"Delight Olugbamigbe","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Olaoluwa","family":"Ezekiel Dada","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Adeyinka","family":"Christopher Osifeso","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Oluseun","family":"Peter Ogunnubi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Oluwakemi","family":"Ololade Odukoya","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"2895","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,29]]},"container-title":["African Health Sciences"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.ajol.info\/index.php\/ahs\/article\/download\/224676\/211966","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/www.ajol.info\/index.php\/ahs\/article\/download\/224676\/211966","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,9]],"date-time":"2022-05-09T07:03:07Z","timestamp":1652079787000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.ajol.info\/index.php\/ahs\/article\/view\/224676"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,29]]},"references-count":0,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,3]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.4314\/ahs.v22i1.63","relation":{"has-preprint":[{"id-type":"doi","id":"10.1101\/2020.11.08.20227967","asserted-by":"object"}]},"ISSN":["1680-6905"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1680-6905","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,29]]}}}