Chegg surveyed students from 21 countries about their mental health, student debt, perceptions of online learning and attitudes about their countries and their futures.
More than half of students worldwide, and three-quarters in the U.S., said their mental health has suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new survey of nearly 17,000 undergraduate students across 21 countries commissioned by the nonprofit arm of Chegg, a controversial textbook rental and educational technology company.
Chegg.org commissioned the polling company Yonder to interview 16,839 undergraduates across the 21 countries last fall, with sample sizes in the various countries ranging from 500 to about 1,000.
Seventy-five percent of American students surveyed said their mental health had suffered due to the pandemic, second only to Brazil (76 percent) and similar to the percentage of Canadian students who said the same (73 percent). Worldwide, across the nearly two dozen countries where students were surveyed, 56 percent of students said their mental health had suffered during the pandemic.
Among American students, 91 percent said their stress and anxiety had increased during the COVID pandemic, 30 percent said they’d sought help for mental health, 26 percent said they’d considered suicide, 12 percent said they’d self-harmed and 5 percent said they’d attempted suicide.