Influence Of Grit And Lifestyle On Mental Health In College Students During The COVID-19 Pandemic: 919

The coronavirus (COVID-19) has caused drastic changes to the lives of college students across the country. Evidence suggests that COVID-19's negative impact on mental health is an unintended consequence of social distancing measures taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Lifestyle behaviors, such as physical activity (PA), sleep and diet, have previously been found to positively influence feelings of anxiety and depression. Grit is also known to influence mental health and may be especially important during the COVID-19 pandemic. Purpose: To investigate the influence of grit and lifestyle factors on anxiety and depression in undergraduate students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: 141 undergraduate students completed an online survey between June 3-5, 2020. The survey featured validated survey instruments regarding physical activity, sleep quality, dietary habits, grit and moods. Hierarchical multiple regression models were used to examine the effects of demographics, grit and lifestyle factors with feelings of anxiety and depression. Initially, only demographic predictors were included, then grit and last lifestyle factors were added. Results: Regression models with demographic, grit and lifestyle predictors explained 25.1% and 34.0% of the variance for anxiety and depression, respectively. Grit was significant when combined with demographic variables for both anxiety (ß=-0.22, p