ArticleJournal of clinical medicine2020
Does Physical Activity Matter for the Mental Health of University Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic?
Article in Journal of clinical medicine, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 65 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
65 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 154 citations in OpenAlex.
- The effects of physical exercise on anxiety symptoms of college students: A meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Pooled it
- Meta-analytic evidence of depression and anxiety in Eastern Europe during the COVID-19 pandemic.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2022Pooled it
- The relationship between physical activity and trait anxiety in college students: The mediating role of executive function.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2022Pooled it
- Prevalence of Anxiety in University Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Pooled it
- The prevalence of depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms and sleep disturbance in higher education students during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Psychiatry research · 2021Pooled it
- Post-secondary Student Mental Health During COVID-19: A Meta-Analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2021Pooled it
- Physical Activity of University Students During COVID-19 Restrictions: Evidence from Poland.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Article
- Physical activity motivation is inversely associated with anxiety: a cross-sectional serial mediation analysis involving smartphone addiction symptoms and sleep quality in medical undergraduates.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Exploring how cognitive-behavioral physical activity links ruminative thinking and mental wellbeing in sports high school adolescents.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Undergraduate students' mental health in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic: a scoping review.Revista brasileira de enfermagem · 2025Article
- Network analysis of depressive and anxiety symptoms with well-being in students during the COVID-19 pandemic: a repeated cross-sectional study.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Urbanization, loneliness and mental health model - A cross-sectional network analysis with a representative sample.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Association between Current Substance Use, Healthy Behaviors, and Depression among Ukrainian College Students.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Article
- Relationship between Psychosocial Factors and Physical Activity among Undergraduate Students from a South African University.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Article
- Physical Activity and Psychological Wellbeing Among Healthcare Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic.Cureus · 2024Article
- Depression, anxiety, and help-seeking among Slovenian postsecondary students during the COVID-19 pandemic.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Exercise motivation, physical exercise, and mental health among college students: examining the predictive power of five different types of exercise motivation.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
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- Prevalence and Associated Factors of Depressive Symptoms Among Mizan-Tepi University Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2023Article
5 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Research indicates that university and college students are at higher risk of experiencing mental health problems than other populations. This study aims to examine the relationship between Physical Activity (PA) and the mental health of Ukrainian university students during the Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic lockdown. The conventional sample consisted of 1512 students from 11 Ukrainian universities, with a mean age of 20 years (M = 20.06, SD = 3.05) and 69% of whom were female. The cross-sectional online survey was disseminated through the most popular social media channels in Ukraine (i.e., Facebook, Viber, Telegram) and included the Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) scale to measure anxiety and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) to assess depression. Data were collected from 14 May to 4 June 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in Ukraine. Among university students, 43% were engaged in PA ≥ 150 min weekly, 24% met the criteria of GAD, and 32% met the criteria of depression. More students were involved in PA before the COVID-19 outbreak than during the national lockdown. Students with anxiety and depression were almost two times less likely to engage in PA than their counterparts without mental health disorders. The inactive group had higher scores of anxiety and depression than the physically active group. The relationship of PA with anxiety and depression was statistically significant but weak during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.