Mental Health During Societal Crisis: Anxiety, Depression, and Stress among Students at the Arab American University

Background University represents an important transition phase of development for students that requires independent thinking, advanced learning strategies and social interactions. Undergraduate mental health is a key contributing component to academic success, mental health and social adjustment. This is magnified in the context of Palestinian undergraduates due to ongoing societal challenges including, political instability, war, armed conflict and economic stressors. This research has examined the levels of depression, anxiety and psychological stress among Arab American university students during this time. Methods A cross sectional quantitative design was used to examine the prevalences of depression, anxiety and stress. The participants included 384 students enrolled at the Arab American University during the time from March 2025 to September 2025, from various academic disciplines, using the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-42). Furthermore, the Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis H tests were utilized to assess differences in levels of depression, anxiety, and stress by gender, faculty type, and grade point average. Results The majority of students were found to be suffering from severe and very severe levels of depression (92.71%) and anxiety (94.79%) as well as high psychological stress (76.95%). There is a significant association between the level of depression and student's academic performance (p < 0.05). However, there are no significant differences between sexes or fields of study. Conclusions The study found a high prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress among students, indicating that mental health problems are common among the academic population. The results highlight the importance of early recognition and treatment to support students’ mental health. While the present study did not examine the cause of these mental health problems, the potential source may be related to the ongoing socio-political issues in the context of the Palestinian population.