Generalized anxiety disorder among Bangladeshi university students during COVID-19 pandemic: gender specific findings from a cross-sectional study.



Muzaffar, Rasma, Koly, Kamrun Nahar, Choudhury, Sabrina, Biswas, Md Abdullah Al Jubayer, Kader, Shirmin Bintay, Abdullah, Rehnuma, Kawser, Umme, Hasan, M Tasdik ORCID: 0000-0002-3256-093X, Williams, Darryn, Chowdhury, Ariful Bari
et al (show 1 more authors) (2022) Generalized anxiety disorder among Bangladeshi university students during COVID-19 pandemic: gender specific findings from a cross-sectional study. Discover mental health, 2 (1). p. 3.

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Abstract

In the current COVID-19 pandemic there are reports of deteriorating psychological conditions among university students in lower-middle-income countries (LMICs), but very little is known about the gender differences in the mental health conditions on this population. This study aims to assess generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) among university students using a gender lens during the COVID-19 pandemic. A cross-sectional study was conducted using web-based Google forms between May 2020 and August 2020 among 605 current students of two universities in Bangladesh. Within the total 605 study participants, 59.5% (360) were female. The prevalence of mild to severe anxiety disorder was 61.8% among females and 38.2% among males. In the multivariable logistic regression analysis, females were 2.21 times more likely to have anxiety compared to males [AOR: 2.21; CI 95% (1.28-53.70); p-value: 0.004] and participants' age was negatively associated with increased levels of anxiety (AOR = 0.17; 95% CI = 0.05-0.57; <i>p</i> = 0.001). In addition, participants who were worried about academic delays were more anxious than those who were not worried about it (AOR: 2.82; 95% CI 1.50-5.31, <i>p</i> = 0.001). These findings of this study will add value to the existing limited evidence and strongly advocate in designing gender-specific, low-intensity interventions to ensure comprehensive mental health services for the young adult population of Bangladesh.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Anxiety, COVID-19, Gender, Mental health & well-being, Students
Divisions: Faculty of Health and Life Sciences
Faculty of Health and Life Sciences > Institute of Population Health
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 09 Sep 2022 08:42
Last Modified: 07 Dec 2023 20:33
DOI: 10.1007/s44192-022-00005-2
Open Access URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/s44192-022-00005-2
Related URLs:
URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3163984