•  
  •  
 

ORCID ID

Sushmita Karmokar : https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5042-8118

Md. Ashraful Islam : https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2505-203X

Mohammad Hamid Al Muktadir : https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2855-3921

Rakibul Hasan : https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0198-2686

Abu Montakim Tareq : https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2704-7610

Mohammad Nurul Amin : https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8296-3542

Talha Bin Emran : https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3188-2272

Abstract

Background: With its rapid spread, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic had a detrimental effect on students’ psychological well-being, depression, and behavioral changes due to indefinite educational leaves, lockdowns, restricted outdoor activities, and excess use of social media. This study aims to assess the relationship of social media exposure with the psychological well-being, depression, and behavioral changes of Bangladeshi university students.

Methods: A web-based cross-sectional survey was carried out on 530 students from June 17 to July 10, 2020, to evaluate psychological well-being, depression, behavioral changes, and social media exposure via self-reported measures.

Results: The prevalence of factors were as follows: poor psychological well-being was 24.9%; moderate to severe depression was 56.6%; severe behavioral changes was 32.1%; and of moderate to severe addiction to social media exposure was 38.3%. All factors were positively associated with social media exposure. Multivariate logistic regression showed that the addiction of participants to social media was 7.488 times higher with severe behavioral changes (OR: 7.488; 95% CI 4.708–11.909), 2.299 times higher with poor psychological functioning (OR: 2.299; 95% CI 1.421–3.721), 30.54 times higher with severe depressed (OR: 30.54; 95% CI 15.0–62.177) than that of individuals without such symptoms.

Conclusions: The above findings imply that the government needs to pay greater attention to improve the overall situation of Bangladeshi university students.

References

  1. Wang C, Horby PW, Hayden FG, Gao GF. A novel coronavirus outbreak of global health concern. Lancet. 2020;395:470–3.
  2. World Health Organization. WHO Director-General's remarks at the media briefing on 2019-nCoV on 11 February 2020. New York: World Health Organization, 2020.
  3. Sohrabi C, Alsafi Z, O'Neill N, Khan M, Kerwan A, Al-Jabir A, et al. World Health Organization declares global emergency: A review of the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Int J Surg. 2020;76:71–6.
  4. Ducharme J. World Health Organization declares COVID-19 a 'pandemic.' Here's what that means. New York: Time, 2020.
  5. Paul R. Bangladesh confirms its first three cases of coronavirus. London: Reuteurs, 2020.
  6. Shammi M, Bodrud-Doza M, Islam ARMT, Rahman MM. Strategic assessment of COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh: Comparative lockdown scenario analysis, public perception, and management for sustainability. Environ Dev Sustain. 2020:1–44.
  7. Brooks SK, Webster RK, Smith LE, Woodland L, Wessely S, Greenberg N, et al. The psychological impact of quarantine and how to reduce it: Rapid review of the evidence. Lancet. 2020;395:912–20.
  8. Bao Y, Sun Y, Meng S, Shi J, Lu L. 2019-nCoV epidemic: Address mental health care to empower society. Lancet. 2020;395:e37–8.
  9. Kluge HHP. Statement—Physical and mental health key to resilience during COVID-19 pandemic. Copenhagen: World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe, 2020.
  10. Torales J, O'Higgins M, Castaldelli-Maia JM, Ventriglio A. The outbreak of COVID-19 coronavirus and its impact on global mental health. Int J Soc Psychiatry. 2020;66:317–20.
  11. Liu X, Liu J, Zhong X. Psychological state of college students during COVID-19 epidemic. SSRN 3552814 [Preprint]. 2020.
  12. Dubey S, Biswas P, Ghosh R, Chatterjee S, Dubey MJ, Chatterjee S, et al. Psychosocial impact of COVID-19. Diabetes Metab Syndr. 2020;14:779–88.
  13. Depoux A, Martin S, Karafillakis E, Preet R, Wilder-Smith A, Larson H. The pandemic of social media panic travels faster than the COVID-19 outbreak. J Travel Med. 2020;27:taaa031.
  14. Cao W, Fang Z, Hou G, Han M, Xu X, Dong J, et al. The psychological impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on college students in China. Psych Res. 2020;287:112934.
  15. Ahmed MZ, Ahmed O, Aibao Z, Hanbin S, Siyu L, Ahmad A. Epidemic of COVID-19 in China and associated psychological problems. Asian J Psych. 2020;51:102092.
  16. Lee SH, Shin HS, Park HY, Kim JL, Lee JJ, Lee H, et al. Depression as a mediator of chronic fatigue and post-traumatic stress symptoms in Middle East respiratory syndrome survivors. Psych Invest. 2019;16:59–64.
  17. Lau JT, Griffiths S, Choi KC, Tsui HY. Avoidance behaviors and negative psychological responses in the general population in the initial stage of the H1N1 pandemic in Hong Kong. BMC Infect Dis. 2010;10:139.
  18. Rubin GJ, Amlôt R, Page L, Wessely S. Public perceptions, anxiety, and behaviour change in relation to the swine flu outbreak: Cross sectional telephone survey. BMJ. 2009;339:b2651.
  19. Qian M, Wu Q, Wu P, Hou Z, Liang Y, Cowling BJ, et al. Anxiety levels, precautionary behaviours and public perceptions during the early phase of the COVID-19 outbreak in China: A population-based cross-sectional survey. BMJ Open. 2020;10:e040910.
  20. Brahmbhatt M, Dutta A. On SARS type economic effects during infectious disease outbreaks. Policy Research Working Paper No. 4466, 2008.
  21. Ni MY, Yang L, Leung CMC, Li N, Yao XI, Wang Y, et al. Mental health, risk factors, and social media use during the COVID-19 epidemic and cordon sanitaire among the community and health professionals in Wuhan, China: Cross-sectional survey. JMIR Ment Health. 2020;7:e19009.
  22. Liu C, Liu Y. Media exposure and anxiety during COVID-19: The mediation effect of media vicarious traumatization. Int J Environ Res Pub Health. 2020;17:4720.
  23. Bontcheva K, Gorrell G, Wessels B. Social media and information overload: Survey results. arXiv:1306.0813v1 [Preprint]. 2013.
  24. Merchant RM, Lurie N. Social media and emergency preparedness in response to Novel Coronavirus. JAMA. 2020;323:2011–2.
  25. World Health Organization. COVID 19 Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC): Global research and innovation forum: Towards a research roadmap. New York: World Health Organization, 2020.
  26. Neria Y, Sullivan GM. Understanding the mental health effects of indirect exposure to mass trauma through the media. JAMA. 2011;306:1374–5.
  27. Aalbers G, McNally RJ, Heeren A, de Wit S, Fried EI. Social media and depression symptoms: A network perspective. J Exp Psych Gen. 2019;148:1454–62.
  28. Ryff CD. Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations on the meaning of psychological well-being. J Pers Soc Psych. 1989;57:1069–81.
  29. Ryff CD, Keyes CL. The structure of psychological well-being revisited. J Pers Soc Psych. 1995;69:719–27.
  30. Spitzer RL, Kroenke K, Williams JB. Validation and utility of a self-report version of PRIME-MD: The PHQ primary care study. Primary care evaluation of mental disorders. Patient health questionnaire. JAMA. 1999;282:1737–44.
  31. Mamun MA, Hossain MS, Griffiths MD. Mental health problems and associated predictors among Bangladeshi students. Int J Ment Health Addict. 2019:1–15.
  32. Liang L, Ren H, Cao R, Hu Y, Qin Z, Li C, et al. The effect of COVID-19 on youth mental health. Psych Q. 2020;91:841–52.
  33. Odriozola-González P, Planchuelo-Gómez Á, Irurtia MJ, de Luis-García R. Psychological effects of the COVID-19 outbreak and lockdown among students and workers of a Spanish university. Psych Res. 2020;290:113108.
  34. Islam MA, Barna SD, Raihan H, Khan MNA, Hossain MT. Depression and anxiety among university students during the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh: A web-based cross-sectional survey. PLoS One. 2020;15:e0238162.
  35. Alim SMAHM, Rabbani MG, Karim E, Mullick MSI, Al Mamun A, Khan MZR. Assessment of depression, anxiety and stress among first year MBBS students of a public medical college, Bangladesh. Bang J Psych. 2015;29:23–9.
  36. Islam MS, Sujan MSH, Tasnim R, Sikder MT, Potenza MN, van Os J. Psychological responses during the COVID-19 outbreak among university students in Bangladesh. PLoS One. 2020;15:e0245083.
  37. Tang W, Hu T, Hu B, Jin C, Wang G, Xie C, Chen S, et al. Prevalence and correlates of PTSD and depressive symptoms one month after the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic in a sample of home-quarantined Chinese university students. J Affect Disord. 2020;274:1–7.
  38. Kaparounaki CK, Patsali ME, Mousa DV, Papadopoulou EVK, Papadopoulou KKK, Fountoulakis KN. University students' mental health amidst the COVID-19 quarantine in Greece. Psych Res. 2020;290:113111.
  39. Mechili EA, Saliaj A, Kamberi F, Girvalaki C, Peto E, Patelarou AE, Bucaj J, et al. Is the mental health of young students and their family members affected during the quarantine period? Evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic in Albania. J Psych Ment Health Nurs. 2021;28:317–25.
  40. Pallegedara A, Mottaleb KA. Patterns and determinants of private tutoring: The case of Bangladesh households. Int J Edu Dev. 2018;59:43–50.
  41. Linn MW, Sandifer R, Stein S. Effects of unemployment on mental and physical health. Am J Pub Health. 1985;75:502–6.
  42. Sandín B, Valiente RM, García-Escalera J, Campagne DM, Chorot P. Psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic: Negative and positive effects in Spanish population during the mandatory national quarantine. Rev Psicopatol Psicol Clin. 2020;25:121.
  43. Gao J, Zheng P, Jia Y, Chen H, Mao Y, Chen S, et al. Mental health problems and social media exposure during COVID-19 outbreak. PLoS One. 2020;15:e0231924.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.

Download

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.