Impact of COVID-19 on college students at one of the most diverse campuses in the USA: a factor analysis of survey data.

To our knowledge, this is the first study that assessed the perceived stress of university students in the USA during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through exploratory factor analysis, we showed that the PSS-10 scale could be summarised as a two-factor structure. A stepwise regression approach was used, and we found both of the factors are significantly associated with the gender of the participants. However, we found no significant association between both factors and ethnicity. Our findings will help identify students with a higher risk for stress and mental health issues in pandemics and future crises.