Anxiety Level and Coping Methods related to the Coronavirus Pandemic among female university students in Aljouf Region, Saudi Arabia

Mental health problems are highly prevalent among university students. However, the COVID-19 pandemic and public health actions to prevent it added another burden on university students’ lives with subsequent psychological impacts.

The present study aims to determine the anxiety level and coping methods related to the coronavirus pandemic among Saudi university students.

A cross-sectional study was conducted among female university students in the Aljouf region, Saudi Arabia. Anxiety level was assessed using Zung’s self-rating anxiety scale, and the coping level was assessed using Brief Resilient Coping Scale. The SPSS program, version 24, was used for data analysis.

A total of 663 female university students participated in the present study. The mean age of the studied participants was 20.94 ±1.69. Overall, 31.5% of the students had anxiety and 28.2% had mild to moderate anxiety, and 3.3% had marked to severe anxiety. The present study reveals that the significant predictors of anxiety in the regression analysis were age, family income, health condition of the student, and having relatives infected with COVID-19. Participants of the present study were classified as low resilient copers (41.6%), medium resilient copers (37.6%), and high resilient copers (20.8%). Age was the significant predictor of coping level in regression analysis. The most coping methods done by the participants in the present study were using the internet (41.6%), doing fun with friends and family (40.7%), doing religious activities (39.4%), and going out in the wild or on farms (35.6%).

University students in the present study suffered from a variable degree of anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic. The present study highlights the importance of providing appropriate intervention measures for COVID-19-related anxiety and helping students with efficient methods to cope with this pandemic.