ISMT study reveals greater anxiety among displaced university students

11-02-2025

A study conducted by Ilda Massano Cardoso, a lecturer and researcher at the Instituto Superior Miguel Torga (ISMT), has revealed that female university students who are displaced from their homes suffer from significantly higher levels of anxiety and stress than their male counterparts.

Entitled ‘Anxiety, depression and stress in displaced university students’, the study analyses the emotional challenges faced by students who attend universities outside their home area. According to the researcher, factors such as financial worries, social integration and academic performance affect women more, due to their greater maturity and awareness of the challenges, as well as the higher social expectations to which they are subject.

The results also indicate that displaced students, in general, have more negative emotional symptoms than the Portuguese population in general, and that international students are particularly vulnerable, registering even higher levels of anxiety.

Published in November 2024 in the Portuguese Journal of Behavioural and Social Research, the study reinforces the importance of measures to support the mental health of displaced university students, namely through social support networks, access to specialised services and adaptive coping strategies.

ISMT will continue to contribute to the debate and development of policies that promote student welfare in higher education.