More students attending the University of Malta (UoM) have turned to alcohol and substance to cope with Covid-19 fears, a study conducted by the Faculty of Social Wellbeing has found.

The findings of the study were shared in a seminar organized by the faculty titled ‘Suspended Lives? The long-term effects of Covid-19 across the lifespan’. It featured four talks which focused on how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected children, UoM students, adults transitioning into parenthood and the elderly.

The seminar was preceded over by President of Malta George Vella and Dean of the Faculty of Social Wellbeing Andrew Azzopardi.

 A study titled ‘Fear of Covid-19 and its Impact on Maltese University Students’ Wellbeing and Substance Use’, presented by psychology Master student Jamie Bonnici, showed that university students had an increase in fear of Covid-19. The study considered 777 Maltese students, with a mean age of 24.5 years.

Respondents who used substance prior to Covid-19 reported more than usual use during the pandemic, with a 39.7% increase in those who use cigarettes, a 29.9% increase in those who consume alcohol and 46.9% increase in those who use cannabis.

“A significant association was found for fear of Covid-19 scores and increased alcohol use”, Bonnici shared.

It was also found that students felt more depressed, exhausted and nervous because of the pandemic; with 70.4% of participants experiencing an increase in nervousness, 94.9% of students experiencing an increase in exhaustion and 60% of students experiencing increased symptoms of depression.

The study also found that religious students experienced greater level of fear of Covid-19 when compared to non-religious students.

It was recommended that a research agenda is developed to continuously monitor student wellbeing.

Alongside Bonnici’s presentation, Professor Carmel Cefai presented a study regarding the resiliency of Maltese children during the pandemic.

Taking the first wave of Covid into consideration and considering a sample of 455 students from state, church and independent schools, Cefai found that 13.4% experienced depressive symptoms, while 3.7% of students exhibited severe levels of depressive symptoms.

Additionally, 7% of students experienced severe and extremely severe symptoms of anxiety.

To cope with their feelings, 67.7% of students said they turned to watching TV, playing video games and hearing music. 64.3% of students, on the other hand, said their coped with their stressors by feeling supported and taken care of by family.

Ingrid Grech Lanfranco presented a talk on the impact of Covid on transitioning parents. Considering the measure obliging fathers to leave hospital after the birth of their new-born child, Lanfranco said that separating fathers and mothers can determine the wellbeing of the parents and the new-born child, as well as the infant’s neurodevelopment and the mother’s levels of stress.

The aim of the pilot study is to show the effectiveness of newly adopted screening producers and whether an intervention will make a difference to the parents and their child.  The results of the study have yet to be disclosed.

Lastly, Professor Marvin Formosa spoke about the neglect the elderly are facing with the pandemic, making reference to how the elderly isolating themselves has the same physical effect as the elderly malnourishing themselves.

He noted that people who are obese are also highly at risk of Covid, yet they do not lose out on the opportunity to go outside and go to restaurants (when they were open) because they are not elderly citizens. This is an indication of an ageist social system, he said.

President Vella closed the conference by saying that children, university students, parents and elderly have all faced the negative consequences of the virus in their own way.

“The restrictions of socialisation for young people is very traumatic”, he said.

He called for more information campaigns to give children a clearer narrative of what the virus is and explain to them clearly and effectively that they have a role to play in the overcoming of the pandemic.