Mental Health Among University Students, Using the 12-item General Health Questionnaire

To date, researchers have found that poor mental health was common during the COVID-19 epidemic. Even if they had been relatively resistant to suicidal ideation during the first three waves of the pandemic, university students may experience a delayed impact on their mental health.

The study intended to measure mental health among university students in Wuhu City, China and to identify an effective approach to universities can use to prevent mental-health issues.

The research team performed a cross-sectional study.

The study took place at Anhui polytechnic university, Wuhu, China.

Participants were 2371 students at Anhui polytechnic university in Wuhu city, China.

The research team used the two-item General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12) to measure participants' mental health.

Among the 2371 participants, 1727 had poor mental health (72.84%), including 843 males (48.81%) and 884 females (51.19%). Poor mental health was significantly associated with an urban residential location (P > .01), the female gender (p>0.01), the second school year (P > .01), and the parents' education level of junior high school or below (both P > .01).

The current study suggests that poor mental health among university students is common. Being female, from an urban area, and in the second year of school and having parents with an education of junior high school or below had poorer mental health than those who were male, from the countryside, and in the first year of school and who had parents with a higher level of education.