Abstract:

Abstract This is a cross-sectional study, conducted in early 2020, which aims to investigate mental health (anxiety, depression, and stress) in college students during the initial stage of quarantine in Brazil. They answered an online survey regarding their perception of COVID-19, quarantine, personality traits, suicide ideation, and mental health (Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale). Data were analyzed by the CART algorithm. Participants were 1957 students (1418 women, 72.30%) with age ranging between 18 and 40 years (Mean = 26.40; SD = 5.58). Worse mental health scores were associated with worse COVID-19’s impact on life, higher neuroticism, and higher suicide ideation, with 48.43% of explained variance in training sample. Our findings show that the mental health of college students may be related to the interaction of several factors that are prior to the pandemic as well as from the COVID-19.

Keywords: