Associations between mental health, social cognition, and COVID-19 stress among South African university students

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dc.contributor.advisorThomas, Kevin
dc.contributor.advisorPileggi, Lea-Ann
dc.contributor.authorMlomo, Zintle W
dc.date.accessioned2025-09-10T14:05:12Z
dc.date.available2025-09-10T14:05:12Z
dc.date.issued2025
dc.date.updated2025-09-10T13:59:53Z
dc.description.abstractThe COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to widespread psychosocial distress, observed in the unprecedented rise in symptoms of common mental disorders (CMDs), including depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This surge in mental health complications has been reported across all populations globally, most notably among university students, who are already a vulnerable cohort to CMDs, including PTSD. As integral socio-cognitive mechanisms of emotional regulation and interpersonal functioning, cognitive and affective empathy may potentially protect against or aggravate symptoms of CMDs, including PTSD, respectively. However, there is a scarcity of South African literature exploring this relationship, and relatively few South African studies have investigated students' mental health in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The current study employed a descriptive, cross-sectional design and aimed at evaluating the relationship between sociodemographic variables, pandemic-related-stress and exposure, mental health and cognitive and affective empathy, and explore the potentially moderating role of empathy. 534 undergraduate and postgraduate students from the University of Cape Town (UCT) were recruited using convenience sampling to participate in an online survey. Participants were administered a brief demographic questionnaire, the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K 10), the Beck Depression Inventory-Second edition (BDI-II), the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), PTSD-Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5), the Pandemic Stress Questionnaire (PSQ) and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI). Overall, the results showed that female biological sex, self-reported history of psychological diagnosis, and earlier year of study were significant sociodemographic predictors of higher symptoms of CMDs, including PTSD. Furthermore, the results showed positive associations between mental health outcomes and affective empathy, and further provided significant evidence of the potentially moderating role of affective and cognitive empathy in the relationship between pandemic-related stress and exposure and mental health outcomes. These findings contribute to the current research gap on empathy and mental health in South Africa and provide further insight into the role of cognitive and affective empathy in relation to mental health in the context of stressful environmental factors. Further research should be conducted to explore additional factors and mechanisms that could explain individual mental health and social cognition in relation to stressful environmental factors
dc.identifier.apacitationMlomo, Z. W. (2025). <i>Associations between mental health, social cognition, and COVID-19 stress among South African university students</i>. (). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Psychology. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41758en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationMlomo, Zintle W. <i>"Associations between mental health, social cognition, and COVID-19 stress among South African university students."</i> ., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Psychology, 2025. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41758en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationMlomo, Z.W. 2025. Associations between mental health, social cognition, and COVID-19 stress among South African university students. . University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Psychology. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41758en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Mlomo, Zintle W AB - The COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to widespread psychosocial distress, observed in the unprecedented rise in symptoms of common mental disorders (CMDs), including depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This surge in mental health complications has been reported across all populations globally, most notably among university students, who are already a vulnerable cohort to CMDs, including PTSD. As integral socio-cognitive mechanisms of emotional regulation and interpersonal functioning, cognitive and affective empathy may potentially protect against or aggravate symptoms of CMDs, including PTSD, respectively. However, there is a scarcity of South African literature exploring this relationship, and relatively few South African studies have investigated students' mental health in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The current study employed a descriptive, cross-sectional design and aimed at evaluating the relationship between sociodemographic variables, pandemic-related-stress and exposure, mental health and cognitive and affective empathy, and explore the potentially moderating role of empathy. 534 undergraduate and postgraduate students from the University of Cape Town (UCT) were recruited using convenience sampling to participate in an online survey. Participants were administered a brief demographic questionnaire, the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K 10), the Beck Depression Inventory-Second edition (BDI-II), the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), PTSD-Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5), the Pandemic Stress Questionnaire (PSQ) and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI). Overall, the results showed that female biological sex, self-reported history of psychological diagnosis, and earlier year of study were significant sociodemographic predictors of higher symptoms of CMDs, including PTSD. Furthermore, the results showed positive associations between mental health outcomes and affective empathy, and further provided significant evidence of the potentially moderating role of affective and cognitive empathy in the relationship between pandemic-related stress and exposure and mental health outcomes. These findings contribute to the current research gap on empathy and mental health in South Africa and provide further insight into the role of cognitive and affective empathy in relation to mental health in the context of stressful environmental factors. Further research should be conducted to explore additional factors and mechanisms that could explain individual mental health and social cognition in relation to stressful environmental factors DA - 2025 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town KW - COVID-19 pandemic KW - psychosocial distress KW - common mental disorders KW - CMDs KW - depression KW - anxiety KW - post-traumatic stress disorder KW - PTSD KW - South African university students LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2025 T1 - Associations between mental health, social cognition, and COVID-19 stress among South African university students TI - Associations between mental health, social cognition, and COVID-19 stress among South African university students UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41758 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/41758
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationMlomo ZW. Associations between mental health, social cognition, and COVID-19 stress among South African university students. []. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Psychology, 2025 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41758en_ZA
dc.language.isoen
dc.language.rfc3066eng
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Psychology
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanities
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subjectCOVID-19 pandemic
dc.subjectpsychosocial distress
dc.subjectcommon mental disorders
dc.subjectCMDs
dc.subjectdepression
dc.subjectanxiety
dc.subjectpost-traumatic stress disorder
dc.subjectPTSD
dc.subjectSouth African university students
dc.titleAssociations between mental health, social cognition, and COVID-19 stress among South African university students
dc.typeThesis / Dissertation
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
dc.type.qualificationlevelMA
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