Rates of Anxiety, Depression, and Stress Among High School Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background: The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) was first reported in Wuhan, China, and has since then spread worldwide, resulting in a large number of hospitalizations and deaths. To the best of our knowledge, the study about the mental health status (depression, anxiety, and stress) among high school students during COVID-19 has not been performed in Iran. Objective: This study was performed to investigate rates of anxiety, depression, and stress among high school students during the pandemic of COVID-19. Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed among high school students (12-18 years) from 30 April until 1 June 2020, in Hamadan City, west of Iran. In total, 2852 students contributed to the present study. Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale 21 (DASS-21) was used in this study. Statistical analyses were conducted in STATA 14 with a significant level of 0.05. Results: The present study showed that although stress status was normal among most high school students (70.3%), the status of anxiety and depression was high. The boys had reported a higher proportion of normal status of depression (51.62% vs. 44.97%), anxiety (31.71% vs. 26.91%), and stress (77.66% vs. 66.10%) compared to the girls. Also, students in grades 7-9 had reported a higher percentage of normal status in all three dimensions of stress, anxiety, and depression. Conclusion: These findings suggest that as rates of depression and anxiety are high, schoolage children may benefit from policymakers and other authorities’ active role.