College Student Social Support and Mental Health During COVID-19

Path analysis results from a study on college students' social networks, social support, and mental distress during the COVID-19 pandemic. It originates from a survey at a large public research university, authored by Michael D. Broda. The data is stored in an XLS file sized 9.5 KB.

Use Cases

• Analyze the association between perceived social support from friends and reported mental distress levels.
• Examine the relationship between social network characteristics and mental health outcomes during the pandemic.
• Investigate the combined effect of family support and high-quality social networks on mitigating mental distress.
• Apply path analysis to test predictions from Social Capital Theory using survey data from a university population.

Strengths

• Data is licensed under CC BY 4.0, allowing for flexible reuse and sharing.
• The study is grounded in established theoretical frameworks: Social Capital Theory and Relational Regulation Theory.
• Focuses on a specific, relevant population (college students) during a defined period (COVID-19 pandemic).

Limitations

• The dataset is very small at 9.5 KB, indicating limited scope and likely a small sample size.
• Specific data structure details like row count, column count, and sample data are unavailable for assessment.
• Findings are based on a single large public research university, which may limit generalizability to other student populations.

Provenance

Source

Michael D. Broda via figshare.

Collection Method

Survey data collected from students at a large public research university.

Time Range

During the COVID-19 pandemic.

Freshness

Last updated on March 20, 2026.

Geography

A large public research university (specific location unknown).