Mental Health of Canadian Undergraduates During the Transition Back to In-Person Learning in the COVID-19 Pandemic

It remains unclear how Canadian students fared at the transition back to in-person schooling towards the end of the pandemic. This study assessed the mental health of 1,873 Canadian full-time undergraduates (71.7% women; age 17–24 years, M = 20.59) from three provinces between January 19 and March 4, 2022. About one third reported severe symptoms of depression (33.7%), anxiety (38.4%), and stress (27.8%). Resilience was a robust protective predictor, even after controlling for sociodemographic and COVID-related covariates. Several sociodemographic and COVID-related variables were also protective. Findings highlight ongoing mental health challenges and protective factors for Canadian undergraduate students towards the end of the pandemic.