Community belongingness during COVID-19 predicts anxiety and depression treatment change in college students.

Objective: Community belongingness has been shown to be related to mental health outcomes in college students; however, little work has evaluated whether community belongingness impacts treatment change, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, when social isolation and mental health concerns are exacerbated. Accordingly, the current study evaluated community belongingness as a predictor of treatment change for anxiety and depression in a university counseling center.

Method: Participants included 516 young adults with clinical levels of anxiety or depression who attended at least two individual therapy sessions at a university counseling center during fall 2020.