Satisfaction with life among university students from nine countries: Cross-national study during the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic

A cross-national online survey study was performed during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, between May and July 2020, in nine countries: Slovenia (May 14–26), the Czech Republic (June 17–July 24), Germany (2–25 June), Poland (May 19–June 25), Ukraine (May 14–June 2), Russia (1–22 June), Turkey (16–29 May), Israel (May 21–June 3), and Colombia (June 5). Students were recruited from the following universities: Maria Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin (Poland, n = 148), University of Opole (Poland, n = 152), University of Primorska in Koper (Slovenia, n = 209), Mendel University in Brno (Czech Republic, n = 310), Lviv State University of Physical Culture (Ukraine, n = 310), Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University (Russia, n = 155), Higher School of Economics (Russia, n = 90), St. Petersburg State University of Economics and Finance (Russia, n = 42), University of Bamberg (Germany, n = 270), University of Haifa (Israel, n = 199), Bingöl University (Turkey, n = 148), Atatürk University (Turkey, n = 110), Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University (Turkey, n = 35); Ağrı İbrahim Çeçen University (Turkey, n = 6); Fırat University (Turkey, n = 3); Kırıkkale University (Turkey, n = 1), Adnan Menderes University (Turkey, n = 1), Başkent University (Turkey, n = 3), Boğaziçi University (Turkey, n = 1), Dicle University (Turkey, n = 1), and Istanbul University (Turkey, n = 1), Del Rosario University (Colombia, n = 142), and El Bosque University (Colombia, n = 13, 8%). The survey was created and distributed via Google Forms in all countries, except for Germany where SoSci Survey was used. To meet cross-cultural adaptation standards [67, 68], partners from various countries translated survey questions from English into the original languages. The invitations to the online questionnaire were disseminated to students via e-mail, social media (e.g., Facebook, Viber, LINK, Telegram), and e-learning platforms (e.g., Moodle, MS Teams). In some countries, researchers also collaborated with student trade unions and student government organizations to disseminate invitations to participate in the study among students from target universities. The eligibility criterion was being a college or university student. All respondents were eligible for inclusion in the research and confirmed their student status by answering the question about their current year and field of study. The participants completed the questionnaire within 23 minutes on average (M = 23.26; SD = 44.03). To minimalize sources of bias, we collected a diverse student sample in terms of its key characteristics: type of university, field of study, and study cycle.

The University Research Ethics Committee (KEBN) at the University of Opole approved the study protocol (no. 1/2020). Students were assured about the anonymity and confidentiality of the survey and were informed that they could pull out of the study whenever they wanted. Informed consent was obtained from all participants, since information about the study and informed consent were included in the first section of the questionnaire. The study was conducted according to the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards (like the APA ethical standards). In seven countries, no compensation was offered to students or researchers as an incentive to participate. In Germany, however, university students were able to register for the chance to win a 20 EUR Amazon gift card, if they participated. Israeli students could win a 300 NIS gift card. No specific funding was given to scientists for the research and manuscript preparation. This study is part of an international research project "Well-being of undergraduates during the COVID-19 pandemic: International study" and is registered at the Center for Open Science (OSF) [69].

The Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) measures global cognitive judgments regarding satisfaction with one's life [1, 2]. The scale consists of five items, to which respondents indicate how much they agree or disagree using a seven-point Likert scale (from 7 = Strongly agree, to 1 = Strongly disagree). Total scores ranged from 5 to 35, where the lowest scores indicate that a person is Extremely dissatisfied (scores between 5 and 9), scores ranging from 10 to 14 indicate Dissatisfied, 19-19 indicate Slightly dissatisfied, 20 indicates Neutral, 21-25 indicate Slightly satisfied, 26-30 indicate Satisfied, and 31-35 indicate Extremely satisfied. For the purpose of the further analysis using the χ² independence test and logistic regression, we dichotomized the SWLS scores into Lower (SWLS < 20, coded as 0) and Higher (SWLS > 21, coded as 1). The SWLS has shown satisfactory psychometric properties, a high level of internal consistency (Cronbach's α ranging from 79 to 89 in various studies), and high temporal reliability [3]. In the current study, Cronbach's α was 0.85 for the total sample and ranged between 0.60 and 0.86 in samples from particular countries (see Table 2 for more details).

Exposure to COVID-19 [43] was assessed by eight questions about the consequences of the coronavirus, including infection, coronavirus testing, hospitalization for coronavirus, being in strict quarantine for at least 14 days, coronavirus infection in a close family member, die of the relative, job loss, and deteriorating economic status due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Individuals answered each of these questions (1 = Yes, 0 = No). A higher coronavirus exposure was related to a higher total score as a sum of eight items. Outcomes were classified into two categories: Lower exposure (score of 0, coded as 0) and Higher exposure (scores of 1-8, coded as 1).

The Perceived Negative Impact of the Coronavirus (PNIC) [43] on the students' well-being was measured using five statements. Participants answered each item using a 5-item Likert scale (from 1 = I strongly disagree, to 5 = I definitely agree) to express their level of fear regarding how the current situation related to the COVID-19 pandemic may negatively affect their life in each of the following five areas: (1) Completing the semester and qualifications; (2.) Finding a job and professional development; (3.) Financial situation; (4.) Relationships with loved ones and family; and (5.) Relationships with colleagues and friends. A total perceived negative impact of the coronavirus (PNIC) score was a sum of all items. Higher scores have been interpreted as the more significant impact of the coronavirus on students' lives. We used the median to dichotomize the total scores for the PNIC and its three subscales: Qualifications, Economic Status, and Social Relationships. For further statistical tests, the total PNIC was coded as follows (for the χ² independence test and logistic regression): Lower (PNIC < 15, coded as 0); Higher (PNIC > 16, coded as 1). We added the scores of items 1 and 2 to form the Qualifications scale (then coded them as 0 = Lower, scores 2-6; 1 = Higher, scores 7-10), items 4 and 5 to form the Social Relationships scale (coded as 0 = Lower, scores 2-4; 1 = scores 5-10), and item 3 alone was used for the Economic Status scale (coded as 0 = scores 1-3; 1 = scores 4-5). The internal reliability of the scale across all countries was assessed with Cronbach's α and a score of 0.71 was obtained.

The General Self-Rated Health (GSRH) is a shorter alternative to the standard general health survey (SF-12V) [70, 71]. The GSRH contains two items. The first question concerned overall physical health (GSRH-1) (i.e., "In general, would you say your health is…?"), while the second, was a self-comparison of health with other people (i.e., "Compared to others your age, would you say your health is…?") (GSRH-2, Comparative). Both GSRH items were rated on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = Excellent, 2 = Very Good, 3 = Good, 4 = Fair, and 5 = Poor). Therefore, higher scores indicate a worse health status. Higher mortality was found among those who had poorly assessed their health using GSRH-1 [70]. We spilt the GSRH scores as follows (for the χ² independence test and logistic regression): Better health (GSRH < 3, code 0); Worst health (GSRH > 4, coded as 1). The reliability coefficient for GSRH was Cronbach's α = 0.88 (N = 2,349) in the present study.

Physical activity (PA) [43] was evaluated using the following question "How many days a week did you exercise physically or pursue sports activities at home or away from home, at the university, in clubs, or at the gym, in the last month?". Participants marked their answer on an eight-point scale (from 0 = Not one day to 7 = Seven days a week). Next, the students evaluated how many minutes per day (on average) they spent on practice (minutes per day of PA). To calculate the previous week's PA level, the number of days was multiplied by the number of minutes per day. The participants were divided into two groups based on the PA total score, Sufficient (PA > 150 minutes weekly) and Insufficient (PA < 150 minutes weekly), according to the WHO recommendation [72].

Demographic data [69] included questions about age (number of years), gender (female, male), place of residence (village, town, city, agglomeration/metropolis), and current level of study (Bachelor, Master). We divided the answers regarding the place of residence into two categories (for the χ² independence test and logistic regression): the first included students living in a village or town and the second included those living in a city, agglomeration, or metropolis.

Initially, data collection included 2453 people, but 104 students (4.24% of the total sample) declined to participate. The final total sample included 2349 university students from the following nine countries: Slovenia (n = 209, 8.90%), the Czech Republic (n = 308, 13.20%), Germany (n = 267, 11.49%), Poland (n = 301, 12.81%), Ukraine (n = 310, 13.20%), Russia (n = 285, 12.13%), Turkey (n = 310, 13.20%), Israel (n = 199, 8.47%), and Colombia (n = 153, 6.60%). The mean age of university students was 23 years, with a range from 18 to 60 (M = 23.15, SD = 4.66). Most of the students were female (n = 1627, 69.26%), lived in a village/town (1284, n = 54.66), and were studying at the bachelor level (n = 1843, 78.45%). The distribution of demographics with regard to each particular country is shown in Table 1.

A required sample size for each country was determined using G*Power software [73]. With a medium effect size W = 0.30, an alpha-level of p = 0.05, a power of 0.95, and df = 1, a power analysis for the χ² contingency table resulted in a sample size of n = 145. To avoid missing data, the survey required participants to complete all answers on each page. Therefore, participants filling in the questionnaire via Google Form did not omit any answers. However, the hot-deck imputation was introduced to deal with the low number of missing data (n = 5, 0.02%) in the German sample (conducted via SoSci Survey).

A preliminary analysis of the proportion of all variables was conducted before statistical tests were applied. First, a one-way ANOVA was performed to test the differences in mean scores of life satisfaction between university students from the following countries: Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Turkey, Israel, and Colombia. The Tukey's honest significant difference (HSD) test was used to find means that were significantly different from each other.

Second, Pearson's χ² independence test was conducted to examine associations between satisfaction with life and other variables. Contingency tables (2 ^x 2) were created for each country separately for the following dichotomized variables: satisfaction with life (Lower, Highest), gender (Women, Men), place of residence (Village/Town, City), level of study (Bachelor, Master), level of physical activity (Sufficient, Insufficient), exposure to the COVID-19 pandemic (Lower, Higher), perceived negative impact of COVID-19 on students' well-being, as well as impacts on qualifications, economic status, and social relationships (Lower, Higher), self-rated physical health (Better, Worst), and comparative self-rated physical health (Better, Worst). Students from Colombia (100%) were assigned to the Town/City category, and 97% (n = 151) to the first cycle study. Thus, place of residence and level of study were excluded from the statistical analysis of the Colombian sample. The effect size for the χ² test was assessed using the ϕ coefficient.

Next, a logistic regression analysis was performed in each country separately to test the odds ratio (OR) and the adjusted odds ratio (AOR) with 95% CI, to find predictors of satisfaction with life. Demographic variables (gender, place of residence, and level of study), physical activity, exposure to COVID-19, perceived negative impact of COVID-19 on students’ well-being, and physical health (general and comparative) were examined as potential predictors of life satisfaction. Statistica 13.3 [74] was performed for statistical analyses.

The present study found that most university students (60.54%) were satisfied with their life (SWLS > 21). The country with the highest proportion of participants reporting higher SWLS score was Colombia (81.94%) and the lowest was Turkey (28.06%). Most participants had been exposed to COVID-19 (68.67%); the highest rate was in Colombia (83.87%), while the lowest was in the Czech Republic (41.61%). Most participants had a high total PNIC (54.53%), with the highest rate in Colombia (78.06%) and the lowest in Germany (39.63%). The area of qualifications was a leading source of concern for the majority of the student sample (57.94%), with the highest rate of concern occurring in Poland (75.75%) and the lowest in the Czech Republic (46.45%). Additionally, concerns about the PNIC were related to an economic area in 59.34% of university students, with this type of concern being most common in Poland (71.74%) and least common in Germany (38.15%). Social relationships were also perceived to be at risk by most participants (58.24%), with the highest rate of concern among Turkish students and the lowest among Slovenians (43.54%). An insufficient level of physical activity (PA < 150 min per week) was reported by 61.86% of university students, most frequently in Turkey (85.48%) and less often in Slovenia (38.28%). Few participants complained about their physical health (9.75%), with the lowest rate of complaints occurring among participants from the Ukraine (3.55%) and the highest among those from Russia (17.89%). Worsening health was indicated in 13.58% in the total sample, with the lowest frequency in participants from the Ukraine (4.19%) and the highest in those from Russia (22.81%). The distribution of variables in particular countries is presented in Table 1.

Differences between university students from nine countries (Slovenia, Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Turkey, Israel, and Colombia) were analyzed using one-way ANOVA. The results indicate that the mean level of life satisfaction significantly differed between participants from different countries with a large effect size (F(8, 2340) = 49.81, p < 0.001, η_p² = 0.15; see Table 2 and Figure 1 for more details).

University students from Slovenia had significantly higher scores in the SWLS than their counterparts from Poland (p < 0.001) and Turkey (p < 0.001), while they had lower scores than those from Germany (p < 0.01). Satisfaction with life was higher among individuals from the Czech Republic than among those from Poland (p < 0.001), Russia (p < 0.001), and Turkey (p < 0.001). University students from Germany presented a higher level of life satisfaction than students from other countries. Statistically significant differences were found in comparison to Poland (p < 0.001), Slovenia (p < 0.01), Ukraine (p < 0.001), Russia (p < 0.001), Turkey (p < 0.001), and Israel (p < 0.001). Students from Poland had significantly higher scores in the SWLS than participants from Turkey (p < 0.001) but lower than those from Slovenia, the Czech Republic (p < 0.001), Germany (p < 0.001), Ukraine (p < 0.001), and Israel (p < 0.001). The level of life satisfaction of Ukrainian students was significantly higher than that of their counterparts from Turkey (p < 0.001) and lower than that of participants from Germany (p < 0.001). Russian students showed significantly lower life satisfaction than participants from the Czech Republic (p < 0.001), Germany (p < 0.001) and Colombia (p < 0.001), while they had higher scores than individuals from Turkey (p < 0.001). Turkish students had the lowest scores in the SWLS, and significant differences (p < 0.001) were found in comparison to all other eight countries. Participants from Israel showed a higher level of satisfaction with life than students from Poland (p < 0.001) and Turkey (p < 0.001) and a lower level of satisfaction than students from Germany (p < 0.001). Life satisfaction in Colombian students was higher than in their counterparts from Poland (p < 0.001), Russia (p < 0.001), and Turkey (p < 0.001).

Associations between life satisfaction and other variables were determined using Pearson's χ² independence test to assess the nine countries (details are included in Table 3). Gender was associated with satisfaction with life in Germany and Russia. Higher life satisfaction was reported more frequently among females in Germany (p < 0.01, ϕ = 0.16) and males in Russia (p < 0.001, ϕ = -0.21). A slight predominance of individuals with high life satisfaction was found for Polish (p < 0.05, ϕ = 0.13) and Israeli (p < 0.05, ϕ = 0.14) university students living in the city, when compared with those from villages or towns. Higher life satisfaction was more likely among students studying at a masters level than compared with those studying at a bachelors level in the Czech Republic (p < 0.01, ϕ = 0.18) and Poland (p < 0.01, ϕ = 0.16). A sufficient level of physical activity was slightly more prevalent than an insufficient level among participants with higher levels of satisfaction with life in Slovenia (p < 0.05, ϕ = 0.14) and Ukraine (p < 0.05, ϕ = 0.12).

Significantly more respondents with higher levels of life satisfaction reported low exposure to COVID-19 in Slovenia (p < 0.001, ϕ = -0.29), the Czech Republic (p < 0.001, ϕ = -0.19), Russia (p < 0.001, ϕ = -0.23), Turkey (p < 0.01, ϕ = -0.18), and Germany (p < 0.05, ϕ = -0.15). The perceived negative impact of coronavirus on students’ well-being (PNIC) was not associated with life satisfaction in Ukraine or Colombia. In Slovenia and Poland, students with higher levels of life satisfaction were more likely to report lower PNIC scores (p < 0.01, ϕ = -0.23, and p < 0.05, ϕ = -0.14, respectively) as well as lower scores regarding PNIC qualifications (p < 0.01, ϕ = -0.19, and p < 0.01, ϕ = -0.16, respectively), economic status (p < 0.001, ϕ = -0.23, and p < 0.01, ϕ = -0.17, respectively), and social relationships (p < 0.05, ϕ = -0.16, and p < 0.01, ϕ = -0.15, respectively). Among Turkish university students, those with higher scores regarding satisfaction with life more frequently had lower PNIC scores in terms of both social relationships (p < 0.001, ϕ = -0.23) and economics (p < 0.05, ϕ = -0.13), as well as lower total scores (p < 0.01, ϕ = -0.16). In Germany, significantly more participants with higher levels of life satisfaction had lower total PNIC scores (p < 0.001, ϕ = -0.24) as well as lower scores regarding anxiety about qualifications (p < 0.001, ϕ = -0.24) when compared with their counterparts, who reported higher PNIC scores. In the sample of Russian students who were more satisfied with their lives, a lower economic status PNIC was reported more frequently (p < 0.05, ϕ = -0.12). Additionally, people with lower total PNIC scores were slightly more prevalent in the Israeli population (p < 0.05, ϕ = -0.15).

A better GSRH-1 was associated with higher life satisfaction in all countries: Slovenia (p < 0.001, ϕ =- 0.25), the Czech Republic (p < 0.05, ϕ = -0.13), Germany (p < 0.001, ϕ =- 0.23), Poland (p < 0.001, ϕ = -0.21), Ukraine (p < 0.05, ϕ = -0.13), Russia (p < 0.05, ϕ = -0.15), Turkey (p < 0.05, ϕ = -0.14), Israel (p < 0.001, ϕ = -0,25.), and Colombia (p < 0.05, ϕ = -0.20). Additionally, a better comparative GSRH-2 was related to higher satisfaction with life in most countries (beside Ukraine and Colombia): Slovenia (p < 0.05, ϕ = -0.17), Czech Republic (p < 0.001, ϕ = -0.22), Germany (p < 0.05, ϕ = -0.14), Poland (p < 0.001, ϕ = -0.22), Russia (p < 0.001, ϕ = -0.20), Turkey (p < 0.01, ϕ = -0.16), and Israel (p < 0.05, ϕ = -0.17).

A logistic regression was performed to identify significant predictors of life satisfaction among a set of variables that were previously included in the relationship analysis using the Pearson χ² test (see Table 4 for more details). Females from Germany were 2-3 times more likely to rate their life satisfaction highly than males (OR = 3.35, 95% CI = 1.24, 4.44; AOR = 3.24, 95% CI = 1.55, 6.77). However, half as many Russian males than females were satisfied with their lives. (OR = 0.39, 95% CI = 0.23, 0.67; AOR = 0.35, 95% CI = 0.19, 0.63). The multivariate model showed that about twice as many Russian (AOR = 2.38, 95% CI = 1.03, 3.13) and Israeli (AOR =1.79, 95% CI = 1.10, 5.17) university students who were satisfied with their lives were living in a city than in a village or town, but no effect was identified in a bivariate regression model. Half as many Polish students living in the city considered their lives to be satisfying compared with those from a village or town, but this effect was only statistically significant in the bivariate model (OR = 0.54, 95% CI = 0.34, 0.94). Individuals from the Czech Republic (OR = 2.81, 95% CI = 1.43, 5.51; AOR = 2.94, 95% CI = 1.39, 6.20) studying at the masters level were three times more likely Masters students from Poland (OR = 0.53, 95% CI = 0.33, 0.84; AOR = 0.49, 95% CI = 0.29, 0.82) were two times more likely to have high life satisfaction when compared with their counterparts at the bachelor degree. The bivariate regression showed that having a sufficient level of PA is a predictor of satisfaction with life for participants from Slovenia (OR = 0.55, 95% CI = [0.31, 0.98]) and Ukraine (OR = 1.64, 95% CI = 1.03, 2.61), and this was also shown for those from the Czech Republic (AOR = 1.91, 95% CI = 1.03, 3.56) in a multivariate model of logistic regression.

Both the bivariate and multivariate models showed that participants from Slovenia who had not been exposed to COVID-19 were 2.5-4 times more likely (OR = 3.99, 95% CI = 2.03, 7.8]; AOR = 2.63, 95% CI = 1.25, 5.56) and participants from the Czech Republic (OR = 0.42, 95% CI = 0.25, 0.70; AOR = 0.42, 95% CI = 0.24, 0.74), Germany (OR = 0.43, 95% CI = 0.22, 0.88; AOR = 0.44, 95% CI = 0.20, 0.98), Russia (OR = 0.53, 95% CI = 0.31, 0.90; AOR = 0.54, 95% CI = 0.31, 0.93), and Turkey (OR = 0.39, 95% CI = 0.22, 0.70; AOR = 0.42, 95% CI = 0.22, 0.80) were about 2 times more likely to report a high level of life satisfaction (when compared with those who had experienced greater exposure to coronavirus).

The low total perceived negative impact of coronavirus (PNIC) on the daily lives of students was identified as a significant predictor of higher life satisfaction among students from Slovenia (OR = 2.59, 95% CI = 1.44, 4.63), Germany (OR = 0.30, 95% CI = 0.16, 0.56), Poland (OR = 1.86, 95% CI = 1.10, 3.16), Turkey (OR = 0.47, 95% CI = 0.27, 0.81), and Israel (OR = 0.54, 95% CI = 0.30, 0.98), but only in a bivariate model of regression. Students from Slovenia (OR = 2.22, 95% CI = 1.24, 3.97), Germany (OR = 0.27, 95% CI = 0.14, 0.54), Poland (OR = 2.16, 95% CI = 1.25, 3.73), and Colombia (AOR = 0.28, 95% CI = 0.09, 0.90) with a lower PNIC in the area of Qualifications were significantly more satisfied with their lives. Individuals from Slovenia (OR = 2.72, 95% CI = 1.50, 4.93), Poland (OR = 2.14, 95% CI = 1.27, 3.59; AOR = 2.68, 95% CI = 1.42, 5.06), Russia (OR = 0.58, 95% CI = 0.35, 0.97), and Turkey (OR = 0.57, 95% CI = 0.34, 0.94) who were less worried about their economic status were more satisfied with their lives. The lower the perceived negative impact of COVID-19 on social relationships, the higher the level of life satisfaction noted among university students from Slovenia (OR = 1.94, 95% CI = 0.02, 1.94), the Czech Republic (OR = 0.54, 95% CI = 0.33, 0.90), Poland (OR = 1.94, 95% CI = 1.17, 3.21), and Turkey (OR = 0.26, 95% CI = 0.13, 0.51; AOR = 0.24, 95% CI = 0.10, 0.58).

In the bivariate regression model, good physical health was indicated 2-7 times more frequently among participants with a high level of life satisfaction when compared with those with the worst health status in all countries of interest: Slovenia (OR = 5.78, 95% CI = 1.98, 16.88), the Czech Republic (OR = 0.30, 95% CI = 0.11, 0.87), Germany (OR = 0.27, 95% CI = 0.13, 0.55), Poland (OR = 7.16, 95% CI = 2.06, 24.84), Ukraine (OR = 0.24, 95% CI = 0.06, 0.92), Russia (OR = 0.46, 95% CI = 0.25, 0.86), Turkey (OR = 0.34, 95% CI = 0.14, 0.83), Israel (OR = 0.06, 95% CI = 0.01, 0.47), and Colombia (OR = 4.06, 95% CI = 1.27, 13.96). However, in the multivariate model, this pattern was only presented in Slovenia (AOR = 4.12, 95% CI = 1.11, 15.31), Germany (AOR = 0.36, 95% CI = 0.13, 0.98), and Israel (AOR = 0.06, 95% CI = 0.01, 0.70). Additionally, having a better comparative GSRH-2 score was a predictor of satisfaction with life for students from Slovenia (OR = 2.69, 95% CI = 1.19, 6.07), the Czech Republic (OR = 0.24, 95% CI = 0.11, 0.51; AOR = 0.34, 95% CI = 0.14, 0.83), Germany (OR = 0.46, 95% CI = 10.24, 0.91), Poland (OR = 4.28, 95% CI = 1.96, 9.35; AOR = 2.89, 95% CI = 1.14, 7.34), Russia (OR = 0.38, 95% CI = 0.21, 0.67; AOR = 0.39, 95% CI = 0.19, 0.81), Turkey (OR = 0.24, 95% CI = 0.08, 0.70), and Israel (OR = 0.34, 95% CI = 0.13, 0.85). Comparative GSRH-2 was not found to be a predictor of life satisfaction for students from Ukraine and Colombia.

Although this study identified significant predictors of life satisfaction in a large sample of university students from nine countries, the findings should be interpreted with caution due to the cross-sectional design. We cannot determine whether potential predictors preceded the current level of satisfaction with life. Therefore, the causal relationships identified may be biased. Longitudinal research is required in the future to verify the findings of the current study. The online method of recruiting participants to gain a convenience sample using social media and e-mailing a list of students does not allow us to generalize the results of this study to the population of university students as a whole. Self-reported measures may also be a source of bias. Furthermore, we have used a relatively new set of measurements: Exposure to COVID-19, PNIC, and PA [43] which has not yet been well-validated.