The increase in organisms transference and infectious pandemics across the globe have been accelerated by an increase in travel, international exchange and global changes in earth's climate. COVID-19, a virus caused by the novel coronavirus that was initially identified on December 2019, in Wuhan city of China is currently affecting 146 territories, states and countries raising distress, panic and increasing anxiety in individuals exposed to the (actual or supposed) peril of the virus across the globe. Fundamentally, these concerns ascend with all infections, including those of flu and other agents, and the same worldwide safeguards are compulsory and suggested for protection and the prevention of further diffusion. However, media has underlined COVID-19 as rather an exclusive threat, which has added to panic and stress in masses which can lead to several mental health issues like anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder which should be contained immediately in its initial phases.

Objective: Scholars have debated the COVID-19's full and partial lockdowns' effectivity to control the transmission of the new case. They emphasized the provision of required economic and social resources worldwide. Past literature related to COVID-19 has contributed little evidence to examine the efficacy of full and partial lockdown measures with experimental perspectives at different intervals. This study bridges this literature gap and explores the full and smart lockdowns' impacts on Pakistani students' mental health, depression, quality of life, and anxiety symptoms, during the various waves of the COVID-19 pandemic.Method: This pretest and posttest experimental designed web-based survey recruited 40 students from March 23 to August 23, 2020, and recorded their responses. The study incorporated four standardized psychological instruments to receive the desired datasets related to students' mental health, quality of life, anxiety, and depression. Researchers shared data links with the participants via social media, WhatsApp. The study applied one-way and multivariate ANOVA tests (analysis of variance) to draw the desired results.Results: This study's findings suggest that both full and partial COVID-19 lockdowns effectively improve students' mental health and quality of life. These measures help reduce anxiety and depressive symptoms among university students. The study results exhibit that partial lockdown (PL) is more effective in improving quality of life. Besides, PL helps reduce anxiety symptoms than complete lockdown among Pakistani students.Conclusion: The present study's findings suggest that students are vulnerable. They need particular interventions and preventive measures to protect and improve their mental health and quality of life during a global pandemic. As the stressful experience of the epidemic persists in Pakistan. It will also be interesting to examine the psychological impact of the successive waves of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the moderating role of marital status between infidelity and development of stress, anxiety and depression. Additionally, to investigate the relationship among infidelity, stress, anxiety and depression among married couples and divorced individual.Design/methodology/approach: A purposive sampling technique was used based on cross-sectional design. In total, 200 participants (married couples,n=100; divorced individuals,n=100) were incorporated from different NGO’s and welfare organizations of Rawalpindi, and Islamabad, Pakistan. Age ranged from 20 to 60 years. Two scales were used to measure the infidelity, stress, anxiety and depression in married couples and divorced couples.Findings: The result revealed that emotional infidelity was positively significant correlated with stress (r=0.39,p=0.001), anxiety (r=0.40,p=0.001) and depression (r=0.35,p=0.001) for married couples. The result also displayed that sexual infidelity was positively significant correlated with stress (r=0.39,p=0.001), anxiety (r=0.39,p=0.001) and depression (r=0.34,p=0.001) for married couples. The result further elaborated that emotional infidelity and sexual infidelities were positively non-significant correlated with stress, anxiety and depression for divorced individuals. The analysis results revealed that marital status was moderator between infidelity and development of stress, anxiety and depression.Research limitations/implications: This paper consisted of sample from three basic cities of Pakistan; thus, this paper finding may not be applied on whole population. Consequently, explanatory, exploratory and descriptive studies would be useful to enlighten the infidelity’s mechanism in prolongation of psychological distress across married couples and divorced individual in detail. Local tools to measure gender-related issues would be helpful in prospect while it combine cultural aspects as well.Social implications: This study would be helpful in clinical settings to raise the awareness to effectively deal with their children.Originality/value: The study recommended that those divorced individuals who had experienced either sexual infidelity or emotional infidelity were more likely to develop psychological problems as compared to married couples. This study would be helpful in clinical settings to raise the awareness to effectively deal with their children.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the moderating role of the demographic variables in emotional intelligence, homesickness and the development of mood swings in university students. Additionally, the paper investigates the relationship among emotional intelligence, homesickness and mood swings in university students.Design/methodology/approach: Purposive sampling technique was employed based on a cross-sectional design. The sample comprised 304 university students (male students,n=210, female students,n=94). Three scales were used to measure the homesickness, emotional intelligence and positive and negative mood swings in university students.Findings: The results revealed that homesickness was positively and significantly correlated with mood swings (r=0.34,p<0.001) and negative mood swings (r=0.49,p<0.001). The result also displayed that emotional intelligence was correlated with homesickness (r=−0.15,p<0.05), positive mood swings (r=0.33,p<0.05) and negative mood swings (r=−0.24,p<0.05). The results of the analysis revealed that demographic variables such as age and gender were the moderator between homesickness and development of mood swings. The results also revealed that demographic variable such as gender was the moderator between emotional intelligence and mood swings. This study recommended that those younger students who had experienced homesickness were more likely to develop negative mood swings as compared to older students.Social implications: The study also recommended that those young students who had emotional intelligence were less likely to develop negative mood swings as compared to older students.Originality/value: The study further recommended that those female students who had experienced homesickness were more likely to develop positive mood swings as compared to male students. Recommendations of the currents study are that university students can benefit equally but female students can benefit more from an intervention addressing homesickness. This study would be helpful in pedagogical and clinical settings to raise the awareness to effectively deal with their children.