Results:
Of the 936 Saudi university students who responded to the online questionnaire, 57.8 % were < 23 years old, 56.4% were females, 56.6% were residing in rural areas, and 82.9% were attending at non-medical faculties. Most of the students reported wearing masks (79.8% always and 17.5% sometimes), using detergents (81.5% always and 13.4% sometimes), and applying social distancing (77.5% always and 20.6% sometimes) (Table 1).
About 41.1% of the studied Saudi university students reported depression symptoms (31.7% mild to moderate and 9.4% severe to very severe), 26.9% reported anxiety symptoms (15.8% mild to moderate and 11.1 % severe to very severe), and 22.4% reported stress symptoms (15.2% mild to moderate and 7.2% severe to very severe) (Table 2).
Several factors were associated with depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms. Of these factors, having a friend or relative infected with COVID-19 was associated with depression (OR 1.95, 95% CI: 1.44-263) and anxiety (OR 1.98, 95% CI: 1.44-2.72). The same psychological impacts were detected among those with a friend or relative who died from the COVID-19; depression (OR 1.86, 95% CI: 1.07-3.23) and anxiety (OR 1.95, 95% CI: 1.11-3.42). Watching/reading COVID-19 news ≥ 2 hours/day was associated with depression, anxiety, and stress with OR (95% CI) of 1.50 (1.04-2.16), 1.88 (1.29-2.76), and 1.50 (1.00-2.52), respectively. Besides, lack of perceived emotional support from family, society, and university was significantly related to all studied forms of psychological problems (Table 3).