Lessons From Our Growing Pains: University Women's Perspectives on Education, Identity, and Relationships During COVID-19

• In Event: Creative Narrative Expressions During COVID-19

Abstract

This qualitative study conducted during the 2020 and 2021 academic years captures narratives around social and educational experiences of university women in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. The work examines how relationships, identity, lifestyle, and education shifted as a result of returning home for extended periods of time and resuming classes. The study also explores how gender expectations and norms impacted pandemic experiences. The work amplifies the female voice adding to the body of work currently available around gender, identity development in emerging adulthood, and the emotional/relational impacts of COVID-19 within higher education. The narratives serve to preserve a historical record of an unprecedented time and to amplify questions of gender-related educational trajectories and challenges.

Authors

• Tia R. Williams, Vanderbilt University
  Presenting Author

• Maria K. McKenna, University of Notre Dame
  Presenting Author