Anxieties and Fears: A Sociological Study of Mental Health of Students in COVID-19 Pandemic 6 4

Abstract

This paper aims to explore the impact of COVID-19 and the implications of pandemic induced changes on the mental health of students. The study was conducted amongst currently enrolled college (undergraduate) and 12th-grade students in Delhi-NCR. Apart from this, parents and professionals were also consulted. This paper approaches the issue of mental health from a sociological perspective to create a comprehensive understanding of the factors which create anxieties and fears amongst students in times of COVID-19 induced pandemic. The study began with the assumption that mental health is not only a biological and psychological issue but needs to be contextualized in societal structures and society-individual relationship. Students as a social group are primarily affected by institutions of education and family, the study thus explores how the three are intertwined. The paper ends with the contention that social integration and regulation are primary concepts through which individual resilience can be studied, understood and theorised. It also highlights that despite the commonsensical belief that the current times are different from the societal normal, a study like this offers a window to understand the structural continuities of the pre-pandemic period into the pandemic period.