One of the purposes of this study was to examine the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on college students. From reading literature, it is known that the pandemic has increased anxiety for college students. Anxiety and other mental health diagnoses are understood to have a negative effect on a student’s academic success. More specifically, the research question for this paper was to examine if mental health problems due to the COVID-19 pandemic have an effect on university students’ confidence in their ability to succeed in hybrid learning formats.
The dependent variable was whether student’s felt that COVID-19 had a significant negative effect on their mental wellbeing. Respondents answered “yes”, “no”, or “maybe”. The independent variable was how confident student’s felt in their ability to succeed in an hybrid learning environment. This was measured using a scale of 0-10: 0 meaning not at all confident, and 10 meaning extremely confident. These variables relate because bad mental health has a significant effect on academic success. The hypothesis is if COVID-19 has had a significant negative effect on the student’s mental wellbeing, they will have a lower confidence in succeeding in a hybrid learning environment.
Table 1
Percent of students who felt COVID-19 had a negative effect on their mental wellbeing
COVID-19 had a
negative effect on
mental wellbeing Count Percent
Yes 303 70.14
No 61 14.12
Maybe 68 15.74
Note. N=432
Table 1 shows that the majority of respondents felt that COVID-19 had a significant negative effect on their mental wellbeing (70.14%). Less students stated that COVID-19 did not have a negative effect on their mental health (14.12%) than stated it may have had a negative effect (15.74%).
The independent variable is self-ranked confidence in their ability to succeed in a hybrid learning environment. The mean score for participants was 6.19. The standard deviation was 2.38. This means that 68% of students answered between 3.81 and 8.57. This shows there was a wide range of answers on this variable.
Table 2
Mean self-ranked confidence in ability to succeed in hybrid learning environment by whether COVID-19 had a significant negative effect on mental wellbeing
COVID-19 had a
negative effect on
mental wellbeing Means
Yes 5.84
No 6.95
Maybe 7.16
Note. N=432
Table 2 shows the comparison between whether respondents’ feel that COVID-19 had a significant negative effect on mental wellbeing and self-ranked ability to succeed in a hybrid learning environment. The highest mean is for Longwood students that felt COVID-19 may have had a negative effect on their mental health meaning they have the highest self-ranked confidence in their ability to succeed in hybrid learning environments. The lowest mean is for students who know COVID-19 has had a significant negative effect on their mental health meaning they have the lowest average of confidence in succeeding in hybrid classes.
The original hypothesis stated that if COVID-19 has had a significant negative effect on the student’s mental wellbeing, they will have a lower confidence in succeeding in a hybrid learning environment. The data shows that the mean between yes and maybe is where the difference is found for the comparison of these variables. Respondents who felt that COVID-19 did have a significant negative effect on their mental health had the lowest confidence in succeeding in hybrid learning environments. However, respondents that felt that COVID-19 may have had negatively affected their mental health had the highest confidence in succeeding in hybrid classes.
Table 3.
Independent Sample T-test of student mental health during COVID-19 pandemic and confidence to succeed in hybrid classes
N Mean t df
Yes 303 5.838 5.188*** 263.410
No 130 7.050
Note. p < .05*, p < .01**, p < .001*** N=433
Table 3 shows an independent sample t-test. The two variables being examined are whether the COVID-19 pandemic negatively affected students’ mental health and their confidence in succeeding in a hybrid learning environment. Students who feel that the pandemic negatively affected their mental health are represented as “Yes” in the table. These two variables are being tested together because it is known that negative mental health can have an impact on academic success. The results of this t-test show us that there is a significant difference between the means at the .001 level. This means that students’ whose mental health was affected by the pandemic have significantly lower confidence in succeeding in hybrid classes.
Table 4.
ANOVA of student mental health during COVID-19 pandemic and confidence to succeed in hybrid classes
Variables Means F
Yes 5.83 7.87***
No 6.95
Maybe 7.16
Note. p < .05*, p < .01**, p < .001***
Table 4 displays the results of an ANOVA test which was run to examine whether students who felt like the COVID-19 pandemic negatively affected their mental health reported feeling confident in their ability to succeed in hybrid learning environments. Literature suggests that students with negative mental health tend to underperform academically. Students who felt that COVID-19 did have a negative impact on their mental health are represented as ‘Yes’ in Table 4. This test shows that participants who were negatively impacted by the pandemic had a lower confidence in succeeding in hybrid classes than students who reported ‘No’. The F-value is statistically significant at the .001 level.
Table 5.
Chi Square of COVID-19 pandemic effect on mental health by confidence in succeeding in hybrid classes
Not Confident Somewhat Confident Confident
Maybe 4 16 41
No 2 19 36
Yes 41 118 124
Chi Square 20.64*
Note. p< .05*, p < .01**, p< .001***. N=433
A chi-squared test was conducted to examine whether students who felt like the COVID-19 pandemic had a negative effect on their mental health were confident in their ability to succeed in hybrid classes. Respondents were asked about their confidence in hybrid classes on a scale of 1-10 but were separated into “Not Confident”, “Somewhat Confident”, and “Confident” for the purpose of this test. Participants indicated whether the COVID-19 pandemic affected their mental health by responding with “Yes”, “No”, or “Maybe”. The hypothesis states that participants who were negatively affected had less confidence in succeeding in hybrid classes. There is a significant relationship between the two variables at the .05 level with p equaling .014. This cross tabulation shows that most respondents were mentally affected by the pandemic and tend to be confident in succeeding in hybrid classes.
In conclusion, students who reported that the COVID-19 pandemic had a negative effect on their mental health also reported having the lowest confidence in succeeding in hybrid classes. From Table 1 and 2 it was found that most respondents felt that the COVID-19 pandemic did have a negative effect on their mental wellbeing. The students who responded “yes” also had the lowest mean for confidence in succeeding in hybrid classes. Participants that believed the pandemic may or may not have had a negative effect on their mental health had the highest confidence in succeeding in hybrid classes. In Table 3, a t-test was conducted. The independent variable (confidence in hybrid classes) was re-coded to consist of two groups. Respondents who answered “Maybe” are now represented as “No”. These variables were tested together because it is known that negative mental health can have an impact on academic success. The results of this t-test show us that there is a significant difference between the means at the .001 level. This means that students’ whose mental health was affected by the pandemic have significantly lower confidence in succeeding in hybrid classes. In Table 4, the results of an ANOVA test is shown. In this test, we were able to compare all three groups (Yes, No, and Maybe). This test shows that participants who were negatively impacted by the pandemic (Yes and Maybe) had a lower confidence in succeeding in hybrid classes than students who reported ‘No’. The F-value is statistically significant at the .001 level. The final test run on these variables was a Chi-Squared. Table 5 shows the results of this test. The same two variables were examined; however, students’ confidence in hybrid classes was asked on a scale of 1-10 but were separated into “Not Confident”, “Somewhat Confident”, and “Confident” for the purpose of this test. Participants indicated whether the COVID-19 pandemic affected their mental health by responding with “Yes”, “No”, or “Maybe”. There is a significant relationship between the two variables at the .05 level with p equaling .014. This table shows that most respondents were mentally affected by the pandemic and tend to be confident in succeeding in hybrid classes. These findings are significant because it can help further mental health and academic success efforts on college campuses. Mental health is a controllable factor in students’ success. Universities should put more emphasis on students’ mental health in order to raise academic success.