Resilience and mood disorder risk factors in Spanish medical students during the COVID-19 outbreak

Abstract

The COVID-19 situation had a major impact on the mental health of the general population and even more so on university medical students who had to quickly adapt to the situation. The aim of the study was to examine risk and protective factors related to depression, and anxiety in a group of Spanish medical students at two different timepoints during the COVID-19 pandemic. Applying a longitudinal design, participants (N = 472; 62.7% female; aged 18–29, mean 23.3 years, SD = 4.2) completed surveys during the first and second waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. The results confirmed all of the hypothesized models explaining the impact of protective factors on levels of depression and anxiety. In addition, self-efficacy, dispositional optimism and emotional intelligence were found to have positive, statistically significant relationships with resilience and inverse relationships with depression and anxiety. However, different predictive variables for promoting resilience were found depending on the type of adverse situation experienced at each timepoint during the COVID-19 pandemic. The increasingly pressing need for psychological assistance for university students is discussed, and various university strategies for psychosocial prevention and intervention based on protective factors are offered to minimize the effects of exposure to negative situations, considering the type and level of adversity.