Back

Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms and Its Association with Psychological Strain Among Chinese University Students

Chen, Z.; Yang, J.; Li, X.; Li, Y.; Huang, Y.; Koenig, H. G.; Wang, Z.; Huang, L.

2025-08-02 epidemiology
10.1101/2025.08.01.25332558 medRxiv
Show abstract

ObjectivesObsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS) are commonly seen in non-clinical populations but receive considerably less attention compared to obsessive-compulsive disorder and other mental health issues. This study examined the prevalence and characteristics of OCS and its relationship with psychological strain among Chinese college students. MethodsA cross-sectional online survey was conducted in April 2024 involving 3,322 participants; the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale and Coping Strain scale were administered. ResultsThe prevalence of OCS was 6.5%, non-medical major students (OR, 1.471; 95%CI, 1.027-2.017) were at a higher prevalence risk than medical students. Participants with stronger OCS were statistically and positively associated with the higher severity of coping strain (OR, 5.115; 95%CI, 3.438-7.609; p < 0.001). ConclusionOCS and psychological strain may mutually contribute to the maintenance and/or reinforcement of each other among Chinese college students, suggesting a new interventional model that may help to promote mental health among this population.

Matching journals

The top 6 journals account for 50% of the predicted probability mass.

50% of probability mass above

"Similar papers" are the closest papers from that journal in the model's embedding space. They show what the match is built on, but the ranking comes mostly from a classifier over the whole training set, not from these examples alone.