How Anxiety Shapes Students' Self-Rated Health at Elite Universities: A Longitudinal Study
Xinqiao Liu1, Xinyuan Zhang1, Yuyang Liu2
1School of Education, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300350, China.
Behavioral Sciences (Basel, Switzerland)
|February 27, 2026
Summary
Anxiety negatively impacts elite students' self-rated health, with higher anxiety predicting poorer health outcomes. Universities should enhance mental health support for students.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Public Health
- Sociology
Background:
- Self-rated health is a key indicator of individual well-being.
- Elite university students face unique stressors, increasing subhealth risks.
- Understanding psychological factors affecting student health is crucial for national development.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the bidirectional relationship between anxiety and self-rated health in elite university students.
- To identify psychological predictors of health status in this demographic.
- To inform targeted mental health interventions.
Main Methods:
- Cross-lagged panel model using two-wave longitudinal data.
- Sample: 896 undergraduate students from five elite Beijing universities.
- Measures: Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS) for anxiety, single-item score for self-rated health.
Main Results:
- Student anxiety levels slightly decreased, while self-rated health improved over time.
- Significant negative association between anxiety and self-rated health, both concurrently and longitudinally.
- Anxiety prospectively predicted lower self-rated health, but not vice versa.
Conclusions:
- Anxiety exerts a unidirectional negative influence on the self-rated health of elite university students.
- Universities must integrate mental health services into their systems.
- Students should actively engage in self-care and seek health support.
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