Exploring the mental health of university students in Spain: What can we do to preserve and improve their mental health and wellbeing?

Abstract The university stage represents an important change in life that is usually associated with various mental health problems which may have potentially been aggravated by the consequences of COVID-19. The objective of this study is to draw a clearer picture of the mental health of university students which may help to develop and implement interventions best suited to their needs. The sample of this study was composed of 433 university students, recruited through the snowball sampling method, who provided data about their depression, anxiety, social anxiety, obsessive-compulsive, trauma, and avoidance symptomatology and personality traits scores. The sample was divided according to the severity of the depressive and anxious symptoms into non-clinical (47.34%), subclinical (34.64%) and clinical groups (18.01%). From subclinical and clinical samples, less than 20% were receiving psychological help. Regarding the comparison with prevalence data prior to COVID-19, social anxiety and obsessive-compulsive symptoms may have increased seriously, while trauma symptoms showed similar prevalence. The strongest associations of the variables among the three groups were the relationship between neuroticism with social anxiety and obsessive-compulsive symptoms, and between depression and avoidance. This study provides an overview of the mental health of university students in Spain, who seem to have a clear need for psychological support. We hope this data contributes to the debate about the role universities should play in ensuring services that address the mental health needs of students.