Background

The pervasive pandemic related changes in university students’ daily life and education led researchers to assess their mental illness symptoms and coping strategies. Fewer studies investigated well-being dimensions, and even fewer students’ perceived worries. 

Aims

In order to integrate available evidence, students’ positive mental health levels, coping strategies and perceived worries were jointly investigated during the first wave of the pandemic.

Method

Participants were 1301 Italian university students (Mage=23.1, 77.9% females), who completed the Mental Health Continuum – Short Form, the BRIEF-COPE Inventory, and answered two optional open-ended questions concerning perceived short-term and long-term worries. Quantitative data allowed to classify participants in three groups according to their mental health level, and to assess the frequency of their coping strategies. Qualitative data were coded and grouped in categories reflecting daily life domains. 

Results

Overall, 23.8% of the participants were flourishing, 66% had moderate mental health and 10.1% were languishing. Factor analysis allowed to identify four coping strategies: problem-focused and social support-focused, religious coping, and substance use. Compared to the other two groups, flourishing students reported a significantly higher frequency of problem-focused and religious coping strategies, and languishing ones of substance use. Students’ short and long-term worries primarily pertained education, social issues, and inner life (thoughts, emotions, plans and goals). Compared to the other two groups, languishing students reported in significantly higher percentage short and long-term worries concerning inner life, and in significantly lower percentage short-term worries about social issues. 

Conclusion

Results showed the interrelation between participants’ mental health levels, coping strategies and perceived worries, specifically highlighting the difficulties experienced by languishing students, who were significantly more focused on their personal problems and more likely to adopt maladaptive coping strategies. These findings suggest the need for supporting and promoting students’ mental health, to both prevent the development of mental disorders and foster their civic engagement.