Earlier empirical studies identified a high prevalence of mental health issues among college students, but did not assess to what extent, but relatively few research studies overall have focused on college students’ mental health since the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak.

Three nationwide studies conducted previously concluded that college students’ mental health has significantly worsened as a result of the pandemic:

• Researchers identified elevated levels of anxiety and depression among college students.
• Researchers also identified that relatively few students sought help from their colleges’ mental health services, due to discomfort talking to unfamiliar people, their belief that their problems “aren’t that bad,” or their general distrust of counselling services.
• Researchers also identified that female students had significantly higher levels of stress than male students, and upperclassmen showed more anxiety than first-year students.