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CHANGE IN PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PHYSICAL LEVELS FROM COVID-19

The relationship between self-reported physical activity, depression, anxiety, and stress

during the COVID-19 lockdown

Jeb R. Wagner

Department of Psychology, Mansfield University of PA

PSY-3306-Research Methods II

Dr. Francis Craig

May 8, 2022
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Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between anxiety, stress, depression, and

physical activity during the COVID-19 lockdown. This study was carried out through an online

survey at the Mansfield University of Pennsylvania. This study consisted of 111 participants,

20.7% male (23) and 79.3% female (88), who were attending the university or were taking an

online class from the university. Only one participant's responses were unable to use as that

participant didn’t fill out some sections of their survey response. Each person who took the

Student Online Questionnaire gave voluntary consent within the Perceived Stress Scale, Patient

Health Questionnaire, General Anxiety Disorder, and International Physical Activity

Questionnaire short form. The results of this study all concluded as a non-significant relationship

between all the hypothesized variables. The results were discussed and compared to the literature

to see if their findings were consistent or not with this study's findings.

Keywords: Stress, Anxiety, Depression, Physical Activity, COVID-19, Perceived Stress

Scale, Patient Health Questionnaire, General Anxiety Disorder, and International Physical

Activity Questionnaire short form

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The Observed change in physical activity levels and mental health during COVID-19 in

college students.

Risk Factors of COVID-19 – effects on college students

The COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic and lockdown created risk factors that affected

college students mentally and physically. Two prevalent risk factors are stress and anxiety,

commonly reported in college students during the pandemic. Stress is defined as any form of

change that causes physical, emotional, or psychological strain. Anxiety is defined as an emotion

that gives feelings of tension, worrying, and change in physical condition. Students were

impacted heavily by uncertainty in academics, careers, and social lives. The students were also

affected by how their learning environment changed and how students had to adapt to it. Overall,

not only students but everyone had to adjust to such drastic changes in such a short time. These

are just some of the many issues and risk factors students face.

Browning, Larson, Sharaievska, Rigolon, and McAnirlin, et al. (2021) found that the

COVID-19 pandemic led to a sudden and drastic change in risk factors in people's lives that

caused an increase in levels of anxiety, depression, substance abuse, and eating disorders. Their

study sampled students from 7 different universities in the United States from March to May

2020. Their sample consisted of 2,354 students, 20% of whom were graduate students. Their

self-reported responses were analyzed to develop a general student identifier profile to see how

these risk factors affected the sampled students. These student analyses were recorded and

explained that 45% of students had experienced a high psychological impact, 40% moderate

psychological impact, and 14% low psychological impact. In addition, lifestyle-related risk

factors were associated with higher reported emotional distress scores and worry times. The
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authors' other noted risk factors were entrapment, boredom, guilt, sleeping problems, and other

aspects.

Guse, Weegen, Heinen, & Bergelt, et al. (2021) found that when students suffer from

these risk factors, students also sacrifice other things in their lives. An essential factor is that

students sacrifice social support, which, when given up or lost. The researchers’ study found that

44% of surveyed students reported mild to severe levels of anxiety and depression. With these

heightened levels and less social support, it was found that worrying about the pandemic

increased worry about academics and social life in students. The researchers studied how

mentoring students affected these worries and compared them to those with low social support

and no mentoring. The results stated that those who had the mentoring had a much easier time

adapting to the online shift of classes and received better social support during the time.

Finally, Babb, Rufino, & Johnson (2021) surveyed students who reported higher

depression, anxiety, poor sleep habits, and low social support. The researchers noted that the

swift change in circumstances from the pandemic made these aspects much worse. This change

made physical and mental strain much more extreme and made it harder for their participants to

cope with the situation. However, briefly touching on resilience, comparing participants with low

and high resilience scores and how students managed with change from the pandemic. This study

demonstrated how having higher reported resilience makes it easier to deal with extreme change

like the pandemic placed on the world. Resilience and coping skills were highlighted as essential

aspects of maintaining mental and physical health during the lockdown. Lastly, the pandemic

proposed new or heightened daily risk factors that students struggled with and made coping more

challenging to adapt to extreme change.

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Lockdown status – effects on the experience of college students

When the lockdown occurred, people had heightened anxiety, affecting their attitude, and

altering their daily lives. Baltaci (2021) examined how predicting the fear of COVID-19 and fear

of contraction led to psycho-social damage to the mental state of college students and the public.

Some things the participants experienced out of fear were stress, anxiety, anger, vulnerability,

and a general abnormal state while living life. Their study surveyed students to record their

resilience levels to see its relationship with fear of COVID-19. The researchers also examined

how attitudes could be changed based on how strong their resilience was. Those with lower

resilience scores had higher reported fears regarding the pandemic and generally reported

frightened attitudes.

Another relationship examined by other researchers was how to use resilience, social

support, and coping as a mediator against the pandemic, stress disorders, and stressful

experiences. Ye, Yang, Zeng, Wang, and Shen, et al. (2020) found that acute stress disorders

were more common in people's personalities after the pandemic. People who had these stress

disorders had a psychological crisis because of the pandemic and had trouble dealing with the

pandemic. However, those with higher resilience scores had a better attitude when dealing with

the pandemic. Much like the other studies, social support was an important factor for students to

develop resilience against the pandemic. Having higher social support allowed for resilience to

be more frequent, which made coping with the pandemic much easier. However, not everyone

has social support or stability, making maintaining an attitude much harder.

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One final aspect that drastically affected people's attitudes was that students were socially

isolated from others during the pandemic. Even though social isolation was required to prevent

the spread of COVID-19, it does not mean it did not impact people's mental health worldwide.

As reported by Fruehwirth, Biswas, & Perreira (2021), four months into the pandemic, their

results that surveyed college students showed a 25% increase from 18% percent when the

lockdown had started. There was also a 6% increase reported in depression levels from the

beginning of the lockdown to the fourth month. Their survey determined that the causes of these

increases were an adaptation to the online university format, social isolation, and other life

factors. Like other researchers, advocating that social isolation be avoided so that students can

develop resilience to cope with drastic changes and maintain their attitude toward life and their

responsibilities.

Change of attitude and lifestyle during the COVID pandemic

The pandemic negatively impacted many students’ lifestyles and was related to a

negative shift in their attitudes and determination to do work. Chalise, Bharati, Bajracharya,

Pradhan, Adhikari, et al. (2021) investigated this perspective for university students. As

previously mentioned, most students encountered a change where their classes went from in-

person to online. Students experienced a shift from traditional courses to an online format that

may have been foreign to them. For most students, it was a challenge to switch to this format for

the first time, and participants struggled with the changes. Students reported subject material in

the study that material was harder to understand in this format. As a result, many students have

altered their lifestyle and determination toward school. Chalise's study stated that students had

less determination to complete assignments in the online format. The shift to the online form and

the pandemic simultaneously overwhelmed students into a negatively determined lifestyle.

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The effects of an emergency switch to online learning were researched by Boardman,

Vargas, Cotler, & Burshteyn (2021) to see how it affected student performance and class

connectedness. Their results found that students felt less connected to one another after the

online transition had occurred (pre-SD=.96 to post-SD=.90). There was a reported jump from

11% to 72% of students that felt no or very little connection to other students when taking an

online course. Contrasting that, students reported feeling closer to their professors than other

students, which takes on a different relationship. Another finding was that students did not turn

their cameras on between 9% and 24%. The researchers concluded that since student-to-student

interaction was so low, students had a more challenging time staying connected and involved in

the class. A significant decrease was reported in participant motivation, and the number of effort

students put into courses or assignments after the transition.

Research suggests that motivation to complete school assignments or daily tasks is less

when one ‘s lifestyle is characterized by lower activity and movement. Romero-Blanco,

Rodríguez-Almagro, Onieva-Zafra, Parra-Fernández, Prado-Laguna, et al. (2020) and Li, Yu, &

Yang, (2021) found that students succumbed to a sedentary lifestyle and became less active.

People spent more time sitting around because of lockdown and being required to stay home

during the high infectious time of the pandemic. A sedentary lifestyle can lead to anxiety or

stress for regular tasks or assignments. Having these symptoms while working on assignments

led to the students neglecting doing work at all. Now that social, personal life, and academics

were changed to this degree, there was little motivation to leave the sedentary lifestyle. So, most

students have stayed away from engaging in physical activities as students prefer to have a low-

energy lifestyle. These studies concluded that if people couldn’t effectively cope with the
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pandemic, students had a higher chance of not engaging in physical activity. The participants'

negative emotions negatively correlated with physical activity levels (p<0.01).

Pandemic Negatively Affected Many Students’ Levels of Physical activity.

Along with other lifestyle changes, research shows that students' physical activity levels

drastically decreased during the COVID pandemic. Öncen., & Tanyeri. (2020) conducted a study

that measured physical activity before and during the pandemic to measure how the levels

changed. The researchers surveyed students from a university in Turkey before the pandemic had

begun, measuring a slight decrease in physical activity among students. However, after it began,

the students reported a significant increase in sedentary behavior in those who had to stay at

home. It is natural to engage in sedentary behavior, but the lockdown stage of the pandemic

significantly increased the time spent in it. In addition, social isolation greatly influenced this

lifestyle as students could not have a physical interaction with other students in the online

format.

The study conducted by Garg (2021) provided insight into how one month of the

lockdown period affected students and physical activity. Their study used the IPAQ to determine

the participant's physical activity levels during the 1-month mark of the lockdown. Out of 150

surveyed students, many had scored in the low category of physical activity during that time.

Those who scored low had self-reported high emotional reactivity, resulting from being stressed

or having anxiety because of the pandemic. There was also a note of what emotions were shown

in high emotional reactivity as unhappiness, anger, frustration, and disappointment.

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It is possible that the decrease in physical activity levels reported in students further

exacerbated the student motivation problems associated with the COVID pandemic.

Coughenour, Gakh, Pharr, Bungum, & Jalene, et al. (2020) studied the change in depression and

physical activity in different universities across the United States. The researchers used paired t-

tests to determine whether a difference between depression levels and physical activities was

present in students. After the stay-at-home order was administered in the United States, the

researchers conducted their study. After completing their research, they found that students with

higher PHQ-9 scores (depression levels) had lower minutes recorded in physical activity. For

example, students' PHQ-9 score went from 5.58 to the post score being 9.61, and the average

minutes of physical activity went from 409 to 330 minutes. The results show that depression and

other disorders are negatively associated with how much time is spent doing physical activity.

Zhang, Wu, Tao, Li, Ma, et al. (2021) found an association between depression, screen

time, and physical activity. Many people had adapted to their sedentary lifestyle and spent much

time sitting around and engaging in higher amounts of screen time. The researchers found that

those with higher depression levels had increasingly more significant levels of screen time was

self-reported in college students. Much like other findings, the researchers found a positive

relationship between depression levels and screen time, with high levels and high screen time.

However, the recorded physical activity scores were low when those two variables were

correlated with physical activity. The researchers found that the student's average screen time of

four> and one> hours was positively associated with depressive symptoms. So, students who had

high levels of depression can be said to participate in very little physical activity during the

lockdown. One thing that seems recurrent in the students surveyed was that students mainly had

low physical activity scores.

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It is certain that the COVID-19 pandemic and its lockdown phases negatively affected

the student population around the world. With higher emotional reactivity, depression, stress, and

anxiety, it was observed that a sedentary lifestyle could relax these stressors. However, being in

those lifestyles and having social isolation would not only make these symptoms worse, further

students' interest in doing physical activity. This period was more challenging for college

students because students adapted to an online format, and mental issues worsened by isolation.

These studies explain how essential social support and coping skills are to get through extreme

changes like the COVID-19 pandemic and its lockdowns.

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For this study, the effects of COVID-19 lockdowns on physical/psychological aspects of

stress will be observed with their impact on physical activity. Therefore, based on the review of

the literature, the following hypotheses are proposed:

1.      During covid-19 lockdowns, those reporting lower physical activity will report an

increase in anxiety.

2.      During covid-19 lockdowns, those reporting lower physical activity will report an

increase in stress.

3.      During covid-19 lockdowns, those reporting lower physical activity will report an

increase in depression.
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Methods

Participants

The participants of this student were students that attend the Mansfield University of

Pennsylvania. Students were asked to answer the questionnaire if it were the time when the

lockdown occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic to represent how their symptoms were then.

A form was submitted and approved by the representative of the Institutional Review Board to

permit the surveying and participation in this study. The age range of participants in this study

was 18 to 38 years of age. The age percentages are as follows, 79.3% or 88 of the participants

were female, and 20.7% or 23 of the students were male. Some students did not fully complete

their required questions or did not put in important information and were removed from the

analyzed data. Every participant had the same treatment within APA guidelines for this research

and had confidentiality when taking the survey. Before the participants started the study,

Students had to read and observe an informed consent page and continue from that page

signifying consent to participate. These materials are listed on the appendices page of this

manuscript.

Materials

Each participant was required to answer a question from different research-backed

questionnaires in the survey. In addition, some additional demographic questions were included

and some questions regarding their university information. After the demographic questions,

questions from the following scales were used. Order from the survey, the Patient Health

Questionnaire (PHQ-9), the General Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7), The Perceived Stress Scale

(PSS), and the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). These questionnaires were
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entered into a Google Forms styled survey to obtain responses for analyses. These scales can be

located on the appendices page with their respective scoring sheet. Additionally, there is a

description of these scales below, and all the scoring sheets are in the appendices section.

Demographic Information. Information collected was gender, ethnicity, age, height,

weight, and if students were employed during the lockdown.

University Information. These questions asked for what year the students were

(Freshman, Sophomore, etc.) and student ID number (No name asked for in survey) in case it

was needed for response clarification. Note: no one was matched with their ID, maintaining

confidentiality.

Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). This instrument is used for screening,

diagnosing, and measuring the severity of depression scores. It uses criteria from the DSM-V to

determine a score from a 9-question ranging from 0 "being not at all" to 3 being "nearly every

day." This makes the score range 0 to 27, with 5-9 being mild depression, 10-14 being moderate

depression, and 20 or more being severe depression. Higher scores are related to lower functional

status and symptom-created issues. (PHQ-9) (Kronke & Spitzer, 2002)

The General Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7). This scale measures the presence of clinically

significant anxiety disorders. It is a 7-question questionnaire that determines the severity of

anxiety disorders and scores. The disorders it can count are listed as but are not limited to

Generalized anxiety, panic disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. The range of scores is 0-

21, and a score above 8 demonstrates some form of anxiety. (Williams, 2014).

The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). This scale assesses how daily surroundings and

feelings can affect one's perceived stress. It is a 10-questionnaire that considers how severe the

relationship between stress over a month is. The score can range from 0-40, with 0-13 being
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lower stress, 14-26 being moderate stress, and 27-40 being high-stress levels. (Cohen, Kamarck,

& Meunelstem, 1983).

The International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form (IPAQ-SF) This scale

was used to assess types of physical activity and time spent in sedentary behavior. This everyday

scale also records the total metabolic equivalence of tasks within minutes per week. It is an open-

ended, self-reported questionnaire on the previous week and how much time participants spent

doing physical activity. When the results are determined, the scale will automatically place the

participant’s score in the low activity group, moderate activity group, or the High/Vigorous

Activity group. (Lee. Macarlane, Lam, & Stewart, 2011).

Student Online Questionnaire. This was the name of the survey that the participants

took that was made and provided by the researchers. As mentioned above, all the measurement

scales were included in the study to measure their respective qualities. In addition, demographic

and university questions were also included in this questionnaire to determine some additional

background about the sample of students. (Wagner, James, Smith, Gray, 2022, [Google Forms]).

Google Sheets. Google sheets automatically recorded responses from the students who

volunteered to take the questionnaire. It saved data for each student’s response to the scales of

measurement used. This sheet was later altered after the questionnaire was closed to score in

SPSS properly.

SPSS 21.0. SPSS is a statistical software used for data analyses in business, data

management, advanced analytics, and criminal investigations. This was used to compute the

analyses for the study's results so that each hypothesis. The version used to find the results were

IBM SPSS Statistics 21.0 software.

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Procedure

Participants were accessed through classes taught at the Mansfield University of

Pennsylvania when the participants were recruited. If permission was given from the professor,

the questionnaire was administered online and voluntarily taken by the participating students.

Before participants started the questionnaire, each student had seen the informed consent page,

and by continuing it from that page, participants gave consent to participate in the study. All the

listed scales of measurement were administered and self-reported by the participants. As an

incentive, the research team requested that extra credit in courses be offered as an incentive to

participate. However, not all professors offered extra credit, but some students still volunteered

and participated in the study. The Questionnaire was open for just under a week, from March 26,
2022,
to April 8, 2022. A total of 110 students voluntarily answered the survey for analysis.

Design and Statistical Analysis

This study utilized the experimental approach of a longitudinal design because of the

researchers' formatting. Data were analyzed using the IBM SPSS Statistics 21.0 software. The

responses to the scales of measurement (PHQ-9, etc.) used in the study were hand scored and

placed into an excel file for further analyses. A Chi-Square test was used to determine if the

IPAQ high and IPAQ low groups were equivalent. In addition, an independent t-test was used to

determine if there were existing differences between the IPAQ high score and IPAQ low score

groups.
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Results

A Chi-Square test was used to determine if the IPAQ high and IPAQ low groups were

equivalent. To test the hypotheses, the participants were split into three groups using a tertial

split to compare IPAQ low and IPAQ high differences (Table 3).

Continuous Variables

The IPAQ high and IPAQ low group were statistically equivalent on all items.

Categorical Variables

The two groups were statistically equivalent on all demographic and control items except

for gender. A review of this variable showed that the IPAQ high group had a different

distribution of men and women. The high group had a mean age of 20.19 and was 22.6% men

and 77.4% female, and the low group had a mean age of 20.69 and had 10.3% men and 89.7%

female.

Independent T-tests were used to analyze the experimental hypothesis to test whether

there were existing differences between the IPAQ high score and IPAQ low score groups.

No Differences

Test of Hypothesis 1: The first hypothesis was: During covid-19 lockdowns, those

reporting lower physical activity will report an increase in anxiety. Independent t-tests revealed

no significant difference between the High and Low groups between PA and anxiety.

Test of Hypothesis 2: The second hypothesis was: During covid-19 lockdowns, those

reporting lower physical activity will report an increase in anxiety. Independent t-tests revealed

no significant difference between the High and Low groups between PA and anxiety.

Test of Hypothesis 3: The third hypothesis was: During covid-19 lockdowns, those

reporting lower physical activity will note an increase in depression. Independent t-tests revealed
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no significant difference between the High and Low groups between PA and depression. (Table

1.)

Discussion
Physical activity levels were surveyed to determine how the COVID-19 lockdown

affected students’ anxiety, depression, and stress. One hundred and ten students provided

minimal information on the differences and relationships between the variables. Fewer studies

found similar data to this study as researchers had significant connections between their

variables. However, one study was consistent with hypotheses one, two, and three. Keel, Gomez,

Harris, Kennedy, Ribeiro, Joiner, et al. (2020) examined the relationship between the COVID-

19 pandemic and weight gain. The researchers used a pre-posttest design to evaluate weight

change in their participants from pre-test to post-test. Their results are consistent with the results

of the hypotheses listed previously. When the researchers conducted the post-test, their results

stated that there was no significant change in body mass index. Like the study conducted by Keel

and colleagues, the results were similar as there were no differences between the examined

variables.

For hypothesis one, the relationship between physical activity and anxiety was examined.

A study conducted by Puccinelli, da Costa, Seffrin, de Lira, Vancini, et al. (2021) found an

inconsistent relationship with this study. This study surveyed 2,140 people to determine if the

pandemic and physical distancing affected their anxiety and physical activity levels. The results

stated that thirty percent of participants had higher reported moderate to severe anxiety levels

from the pandemic occurring. The researchers noted that higher anxiety levels would negatively

correlate with physical activity. Researchers found that the higher reported anxiety levels lead to
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decreased physical activity levels. This is inconsistent with this study as no relationship was

found between anxiety and physical activity levels.

One study inconsistent with hypotheses one and three were done by Li et al. (2021),

which examined how resilience assisted people in continuing physical activity during the

pandemic. Their examination used a depression-anxiety scale to find how their participant's

anxiety levels changed due to the pandemic. Their results were inconsistent with this study. Li

and colleagues reported that low physical activity levels reported from isolation at home resulted

from increased self-reported anxiety and depression levels. High levels of anxiety and depression

influenced how the participants remained in sedentary behavior rather than engage in physical

activity. Negative emotions and the pandemic significantly affect how people choose what to do

during their isolation period.

A study inconsistent with hypothesis two by Ye et al. in 2020 focused on how resilience

worked against stress disorders. The researchers examined the relationship between resilience,

social support, and stress disorders. The researchers hypothesized that those with low social

support and resilience levels would have stress disorders and difficulty coping with the

pandemic. As hypothesized, most surveyed students reported lower resilience abilities and social

support during the pandemic and had trouble dealing with their stress disorders. Many factors

that the pandemic imposed on students made dealing with assignments and exams much harder

as their social lives were practically stopped when the pandemic started. This had made it much

harder to cope without having a social life and dealing with the pandemic simultaneously, which

triggered stress disorders to become much worse.

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An additional study conducted by Garg I (2021) was also inconsistent with this study's

hypotheses one, two, and three. Garg and associates analyzed the relationship between emotional

reactivity and physical activity levels one month into the lockdown. The researchers

related emotional reactivity closely to moods that can appear with anxiety. These moods were

upset, disappointed, frustrated, and overall negative, which the participants used to describe their

emotional state one month into the lockdown. The lockdown enforced isolation and social

distancing, which forced people to stay in their homes for their safety. Their results stated a

negative relationship in response to the pandemic in emotional reactivity and physical activity.

Again, these results are inconsistent with this study as there were significant differences in their

physical activity levels from their emotional status.

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically affected many people worldwide and is still

open to new research pathways. Focusing on its mental health effects provides ideas to

psychology researchers to see how to create and advocate ways to prevent a decline in mental

health if something drastic happens. Examining anxiety, depression, and stress closely

intertwine, which makes assessing them much more manageable. Knowing how a pandemic

affects college students can also help prepare students to stay resilient in hard times like the

pandemic. This makes managing their mental health issues much easier and keeping a positive

outlook on the future. With a larger population, a relationship between the variables in the

hypotheses could show a correlation that physical activity is affected by these heightened

aspects.
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students in the wake of COVID ‐19. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 53(11),

1801–1808. https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.23375

Lee, P. H., Macfarlane, D. J., Lam, T. H., & Stewart, S. M. (2011). Validity of the International

Physical Activity Questionnaire Short Form (IPAQ-SF): A systematic review. The

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International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 8, Article

115. https://doi.org/10.1186/1479-5868-8-115

Li, X., Yu, H., & Yang, N. (2021). The mediating role of resilience in the effects of physical

exercise on college students' negative emotions during the COVID-19 epidemic.

Scientific Reports, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-04336-y

Öncen, S., & Tanyeri, L. (2020). Evaluation of the Physical Activity Levels of the Students in a

Physical Education and Sports Science Department Before and During the Coronavirus

Pandemic. International Education Studies, 13(10), 148.

https://doi.org/10.5539/ies.v13n10p148

Puccinelli, P. J., da Costa, T. S., Seffrin, A., de Lira, C. A. B., Vancini, R. L., Nikolaidis, P. T.,

Knechtle, B., Rosemann, T., Hill, L., & Andrade, M. S. (2021). Reduced level of physical

activity during COVID-19 pandemic is associated with depression and anxiety levels: an

internet-based survey. BMC Public Health, 21(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-

10470-z

Romero-Blanco, C., Rodríguez-Almagro, J., Onieva-Zafra, M. D., Parra-Fernández, M. L.,

Prado-Laguna, M. D. C., & Hernández-Martínez, A. (2020). Physical Activity and

Sedentary Lifestyle in University Students: Changes during Confinement Due to the

COVID-19 Pandemic. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public

Health, 17(18), 6567. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17186567

Wagner, James, Smith, & Gray. (2022) Student Online Questionnaire. Unpublished document

Williams, N. (2014). The GAD-7 Questionnaire [Review of the test Generalized anxiety

disorder (gad-7) Questionnaire,  by R. L. Spitzer]. Occupational Medicine, 64(3),

224. https://doi.org/10.1093/occmed/kqt161
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Ye, Z., Yang, X., Zeng, C., Wang, Y., Shen, Z., Li, X., & Lin, D. (2020). Resilience, Social

Support, and Coping as Mediators between COVID‐19‐related Stressful Experiences and

Acute Stress Disorder among College Students in China. Applied Psychology: Health

and Well-Being, 12(4), 1074–1094. https://doi.org/10.1111/aphw.12211

Zhang, Y., Wu, X., Tao, S., Li, S., Ma, L., Yu, Y., Sun, G., Li, T., & Tao, F. (2021).

Associations between screen time, physical activity, and depressive symptoms during the

2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak among Chinese college students.

Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine, 26(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12199-

021-01025-0
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CHANGE IN PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PHYSICAL LEVELS FROM COVID-19

Tables and Figures

Table 1
Differences Between High and Low IPAQ Scores on GAD-7 & PHQ-9

Table 2
Differences Between IPAQ High and Low Groups in Perceived Stress
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Table 3
Study Design with Independent and Dependent Variables
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Appendices
Informed Consent
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PHQ-9 Scoring Sheet

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GAD-7 Scoring Sheet

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Name and Surname
Age years
Weight kilograms TIP: use the TAB key to move between editable cells

INTERNATIONAL PHYSICAL ACTIVITY QUESTIONNAIRE

FOR USE WITH YOUNG AND MIDDLE-AGED ADULTS (15-69 years)

We are interested in finding out about the kinds of physical activities that people do as part of their everyday lives. The questions will ask you about the time you spent being
physically active in the last 7 days. Please answer each question even if you do not consider yourself to be an active person. Please think about the activities you do at work,
as part of your house and yard work, to get from place to place, and in your spare time for recreation, exercise or sport.

Think about all the vigorous activities that you did in the last 7 days. Vigorous physical activities refer to activities that take hard physical effort and make you breathe much
harder than normal. Think only about those physical activities that you did for at least 10 minutes at a time.

Automatic report of the INTERNATIONAL PHYSICAL ACTIVITY QUESTIONNAIRE.

Authors: Andrea Di Blasio, Ph.D., M.Sc., B.Sc.; Pascal Izzicupo, Ph.D., M.Sc., B.Sc.; Francesco Di Donato, B.Sc.; Christian
Mazzocco.
andiblasio@gmail.com

1. During the last 7 days, on how many days did you do vigorous physical activities like heavy lifting, digging, aerobics, or fast bicycling?

0 days per week No vigorous physical activities. Skip to question 3

2. How much time did you usually spend doing vigorous physical activities on one of those days?

0 hours per day 0 minutes per day Don’t know/Not sure

Think about all the moderate activities that you did in the last 7 days. Moderate activities refer to activities that take moderate physical effort and make you breathe somewhat
harder than normal. Think only about those physical activities that you did for at least 10 minutes at a time.

3. During the last 7 days, on how many days did you do moderate physical activities like carrying light loads, bicycling at a regular pace, or doubles tennis? Do not include
walking.

0 days per week No moderate physical activities. Skip to question 5

4. How much time did you usually spend doing moderate physical activities on one of those days?

0 hours per day 0 minutes per day Don’t know/Not sure

Think about the time you spent walking in the last 7 days. This includes at work and at home, walking to travel from place to place, and any other walking that you have done
solely for recreation, sport, exercise, or leisure.

5. During the last 7 days, on how many days did you walk for at least 10 minutes at a time?

0 days per week No walking. Skip to question 7

6. How much time did you usually spend walking on one of those days?

0 hours per day 0 minutes per day Don’t know/Not sure

The last question is about the time you spent sitting on weekdays during the last 7 days. Include time spent at work, at home, while doing course work and during leisure time.
This may include time spent sitting at a desk, visiting friends, reading, or sitting or lying down to watch television.

7. During the last 7 days, how much time did you spend sitting on a week day?

0 hours per day 0 minutes per day Don’t know/Not sure

This is the end of the questionnaire, thank you for participating.

IPAQ-SF Data Entry Sheet

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PSS Scoring Sheet

Student Online Questionnaire

Student Online Questionnaire

Note: Make sure you see the thank-you note at the end and print it out/take a picture of it. This is
how you will receive the extra credit if it's provided by the professor!
* Required
Informed Consent for Research Protocol 
Continuing from this page and taking this test states you agree to give your consent to take this online survey.
Note: all responses will remain confidential (see below).
Online Questionnaire Informed Consent Form
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Demographic Information
Answer these questions as if you were still in the lockdown stage of the COVID-19 pandemic.
1.
Student ID Number (If known,Enter the 7 Digit ID number from your Student ID)
2.
Gender*
Mark only one oval.
Male
Female
3.
Age*
4.
Height (In inches if possible)*
5.
Weight (lbs)*
6.
Ethnicity *
Mark only one oval.
0- Caucasian
1- African American
2- Hispanic or Latino American
3- Asian
4-Indigenous/Alaskan Native
5-Other/Mixed
7.
Employed during lockdown?*
Mark only one oval.
0- No
1- Yes
8.
Year in college*
Mark only one oval.
0-Freshman
1-Sophomore
2-Junior
3-Senior
Personal Health Questionnaire-9
Answer these questions as if you were still in the lockdown stage of the COVID-19 pandemic.
9.
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CHANGE IN PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PHYSICAL LEVELS FROM COVID-19

1. Little interest or pleasure in doing things.*

Mark only one oval.
0 - Not at all
1- Several Days
2- More than half the days
3- Nearly every day
10.
2. Feeling down, depressed, or hopeless.*
Mark only one oval.
0 - Not at all
1- Several Days
2- More than half the days
3- Nearly every day
11.
3. Trouble falling or staying asleep, or sleeping too much.*
Mark only one oval.
0 - Not at all
1- Several Days
2- More than half the days
3- Nearly every day
12.
4. Feeling tired or having little energy.*
Mark only one oval.
0 - Not at all
1- Several Days
2- More than half the days
3- Nearly every day
13.
5. Poor appetite or overeating.*
Mark only one oval.
0 - Not at all
1- Several Days
2- More than half the days
3- Nearly every day
14.
6. Feeling bad about yourself – or that you are a failure or have let yourself or your
family down.*
Mark only one oval.
0 - Not at all
1- Several Days
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CHANGE IN PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PHYSICAL LEVELS FROM COVID-19

2- More than half the days

3- Nearly every day
15.
7. Trouble concentrating on things, such as reading the newspaper or watching
television.*
Mark only one oval.
0 - Not at all
1- Several Days
2- More than half the days
3- Nearly every day
16.
8. Moving or speaking so slowly that other people could have noticed. Or the opposite
– being so fidgety or restless that you have been moving around a lot more than
usual.*
Mark only one oval.
0 - Not at all
1- Several Days
2- More than half the days
3- Nearly every day
17.
9. Thoughts that you would be better off dead, or of hurting yourself in some way. *
Mark only one oval.
0 - Not at all
1- Several Days
2- More than half the days
3- Nearly every day
General Anxiety Disorder-7
Answer these questions as if you were still in the lockdown stage of the COVID-19 pandemic.
18.
1. Feeling nervous, anxious, or on edge.*
Mark only one oval.
0- Not at all
1- Several Days
2- Over half the days
3- Nearly every day
19.
2. Not being able to stop or control worrying.*
Mark only one oval.
0- Not at all
1- Several Days
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CHANGE IN PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PHYSICAL LEVELS FROM COVID-19

2- Over half the days

3- Nearly every day
20.
3. Worrying too much about different things.*
Mark only one oval.
0- Not at all
1- Several Days
2- Over half the days
3- Nearly every day
21.
4. Trouble relaxing.*
Mark only one oval.
0- Not at all
1- Several Days
2- Over half the days
3- Nearly every day
22.
5. Being so restless that it’s hard to sit still.*
Mark only one oval.
0- Not at all
1- Several Days
2- Over half the days
3- Nearly every day
23.
6. Becoming easily annoyed or irritable.*
Mark only one oval.
0-Not at all
1- Several Days
2- Over half the days
3- Nearly every day
24.
7. Feeling afraid as if something awful might happen.*
Mark only one oval.
0- Not at all
1- Several Days
2- Over half the days
3- Nearly every day
25.
If you checked off any problems, how difficult have these made it for you to do your
work, take care of things at home, or get along with other people? *
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CHANGE IN PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PHYSICAL LEVELS FROM COVID-19

Mark only one oval.

0- Not at all
1- Somewhat difficult
2- Very Difficult
3- Extremely Difficult
Perceived Stress Scale
Answer these questions as if you were still in the lockdown stage of the COVID-19 pandemic.
26.
l. In the last month, how often have you been upset because of something that
happened unexpectedly?*
Mark only one oval.
0 - never
1 - almost never
2 - sometimes
3 - fairly often
4 - very often
27.
2. In the last month, how often have you felt that you were unable to control the
important things in your life?*
Mark only one oval.
0 - never
1 - almost never
2 - sometimes
3 - fairly often
4 - very often
28.
3. In the last month, how often have you felt nervous and stressed?*
Mark only one oval.
0 - never
1 - almost never
2 - sometimes
3 - fairly often
4 - very often
29.
4. In the last month, how often have you felt confident about your ability to handle your
personal problems?*
Mark only one oval.
0 - never
1 - almost never
2 - sometimes
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CHANGE IN PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PHYSICAL LEVELS FROM COVID-19

3 - fairly often
4 - very often
30.
5. In the last month, how often have you felt that things were going your way?*
Mark only one oval.
0 - never
1 - almost never
2 - sometimes
3 - fairly often
4 - very often
31.
6. In the last month, how often have you found that you could not cope with all the
things that you had to do?*
Mark only one oval.
0 - never
1 - almost never
2 - sometimes
3 - fairly often
4 - very often
32.
7. In the last month, how often have you been able to control irritations in your life? *
Mark only one oval.
0 - never
1 - almost never
2 - sometimes
3 - fairly often
4 - very often
33.
8. In the last month, how often have you felt that you were on top of things? *
Mark only one oval.
0 - never
1 - almost never
2 - sometimes
3 - fairly often
4 - very often
34.
9. In the last month, how often have you been angered because of things that
happened that were outside of your control?*
Mark only one oval.
0 - never
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CHANGE IN PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PHYSICAL LEVELS FROM COVID-19

1 - almost never
2 - sometimes
3 - fairly often
4 - very often
35.
10. In the last month, how often have you felt difficulties were piling up so high that
you could not overcome them?*
Mark only one oval.
0 - never
1 - almost never
2 - sometimes
3 - fairly often
4 - very often
International Physical Activity Questionnaire
Answer these questions as if you were still in the lockdown stage of the COVID-19 pandemic.
36.
1. During the last 7 days, on how many days did you do vigorous physical activities like
heavy lifting, digging, aerobics, or fast bicycling?(NOTE: No vigorous physical
activities. Skip to question 3)
37.
2. How much time did you usually spend doing vigorous physical activities on one of
those days?(Please enter hours and minutes per day, If you are unsure enter Don't
know/ Not Sure)
38.
3. During the last 7 days, on how many days did you do moderate physical activities
like carrying light loads, bicycling at a regular pace, or doubles tennis?  Do not include
walking. (Enter days per week please, If no moderate physical activities. Skip to
question 5)
39.
4. How much time did you usually spend doing moderate physical activities on one of
those days? (Please enter hours and minutes per day, If you're unsure, enter don't
know/not sure)
40.
5. During the last 7 days, on how many days did you walk for at least 10 minutes at a
time?  (Enter days per week, if No walking. Skip to question 7)

41.
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CHANGE IN PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PHYSICAL LEVELS FROM COVID-19

6. How much time did you usually spend walking on one of those days? (Please enter
hours/minutes per day, if unsure enter don't know/not sure)
42.
7. During the last 7 days, how much time did you spend sitting on a weekday?(Please
enter hours/minutes per day, if unsure enter don't know/not sure)

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