Impact of Academic Support on Anxiety and Depression of Chinese Graduate Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Mediating Role of Academic Performance

Qing Zeng; Zhengyan Liang; Minqiang Zhang; Yuanlin Xia; Jia Li; Derong Kang; Da Yi; Jinqing Wang

doi:10.2147/PRBM.S345021

Impact of Academic Support on Anxiety and Depression of Chinese Graduate Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Mediating Role of Academic Performance

Psychol Res Behav Manag. 2021 Dec 30:14:2209-2219. doi: 10.2147/PRBM.S345021. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Qing Zeng¹, Zhengyan Liang¹, Minqiang Zhang^{1

2

3

4}, Yuanlin Xia¹, Jia Li¹, Derong Kang¹, Da Yi¹, Jinqing Wang¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
² Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
³ Center for Studies of Psychological Application, School of Psychology, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
⁴ Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.

Abstract

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic broke out and has spread globally since 2019. It became a public health concern. This pandemic has brought tremendous changes in students' lives and modes of learning. Graduate students are likely to be more affected as they are a part of a special training program. According to the main-effect model, social support has a positive effect on mental health. The pandemic has exerted a negative impact on the social support of individuals, and as a result, the behavior of a person is more likely to be at risk and has resulted in psychological crisis in people/individuals.

Methods: A sample of 3137 graduate students responded to the instrument developed to assess the impact of the pandemic on the academic activities and performance, Self-rating Anxiety Scale and Self-rating Depression Scale.

Results: The results showed that: 1) the pandemic impacted the academic support and performance of graduate students in varying degrees, 21% of graduate students experienced anxiety, and 33.9% of graduate students experienced depressive symptoms in varying degrees; 2) academic support variables (ie, academic exchange with mentors and peers) and academic performance variables (ie, data collection and thesis writing) were significantly associated with anxiety and depressive symptoms; 3) the model fitted the data well (RMSEA = 0.029; SRMR = 0.014; TLI = 0.99; CFI = 0.996). The direct effects of academic support on anxiety and depressive symptoms were significant. The impact on academic performance played a mediating role between the impact on academic support, anxiety, and depressive symptoms.

Discussion: Academic support significantly affected academic performance, which in turn affected anxiety and depressive symptoms. So, it implies that, due to the pandemic, the academic support for graduate students had decreased, resulting in deterioration in academic performance, causing anxiety and depressive symptoms.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic; academic performance; academic support; anxiety; depressive symptoms; graduate students.

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the key project of the Chinese National Social Science Fund, “Research on Problems and System Innovation in Educational Integrated Development in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area” (Grant Number: AGA200016).