The rapid change of mental health in college students after on-campus quarantine in Shanghai 2022 Covid lockdown

Importance: Social isolation during outbreaks of epidemics always challenge psychological resilience profoundly. However, it still remains unclear how students’ mental health would be affected by strict o n-campus quarantine, which means students stayed at dormitories or on-campus for quarantine. We analyzed the data from one of the earliest universities releasing strict on-campus quarantine to prevent the Omicron spread-out in Shanghai, to evaluate the time course of the psychological resilience in the influence of an unexpected change in the living space in university students. Objectives: ： The campus was locked down on 9 th March. From 9 th to 23 rd , all students on campus were asked to stay in their dormitries, and teachers sent food supplies three times a day. From 24 th March to early April, students were gradually allowed to enter the campus for necessary activities. We quantify dynamic changes in depression severity during the campus locked down. Method: All participants were undergraduate or graduate students. The survey was released on 5th, April. All survey was dropped a public link on www.wjx.cn and administered from April 5th to 7th, 2022. Following the schedule of quarantine area, we assessed depressive symptoms in SJTU students from Period 1 (two weeks before 9 th , March), Period 2 (9 th to 23 rd , March), and Period 3 (24 th March to 5 th April). 274 students completed the online survey, and two incomplete data were excluded for further analysis. All these participants aged range from 18 to 25 years old and were quarantined in dormitories since 9 th March 2022. Findings: A remarkable increase in depression was observed in university students after stringent quarantine. The portion of students with depression started at 9.1% before quarantine and rapidly increased to 36.1% right after quarantine. No more increase in depressive symptoms was observed with time though quarantine was ongoing, which can be predicted by the food supplement satisfaction and the duration of physical fitness per day. Interestingly, the impact of a sudden change in living space on the psychological resilence was more evident in students who have a romatic relationship than singles.