Learning in a Pandemic: Quarantine Effects on Emerging Adults’ Coping

• In Event: Poster Session 14
  In Poster Session: PS 14 Topic - Education, Schooling

Abstract

The COVID‐19 pandemic resulted in the quarantine of residents in many U.S. locations in Spring 2020, the first mandatory quarantine since the 1918 Spanish Flu (Nussbaumer-Streit et al., 2020). For students of all ages, this typically meant rapidly transitioning to online learning with little preparation. Indeed, with no available vaccine to combat the virus, isolation measures continue in many states. Little is known about how quarantine and the abrupt transition to online learning may have affected emerging adults’ development, typically a period of experimentation and burgeoning autonomy (Arnett, 2007). How might the isolation of quarantine or the stress of a pandemic impact the developmental challenges of this period (e.g., instability, identity exploration)? What behaviors or traits predict successful coping in the face of the pandemic and in the transition to online learning?

Women continue to be responsible for the bulk of household labor (Pew Research Center, 2015) and daughters are more likely than sons to be responsible for chores (Liben & Bigler, 2002). For students living at home during quarantine, female students may be especially likely to split time between schooling and family responsibilities. As a result of these additional stressors, we hypothesize that women’s mental health would be impacted by the COVID-19 quarantine even more so than men’s. In particular, we expect women to report greater anxiety, paralleling findings by Hamel et al. (2020). We are further interested in understanding correlates of mental health for emerging adult students in quarantine, including access to coping strategies, preparation for online learning, and perceptions of how successfully their university navigated the transition online. We expect that students with continued access to their preferred stress-reducing activities, who felt more prepared for online learning, and who perceived a smoother institutional transition online would report lower levels of stress, depression, and anxiety than students with less access to their preferred coping activities, who felt less prepared for online learning, or who perceived a more difficult institutional transition online.

Data were collected via an online survey after the conclusion of the Spring 2020 term. Eligible students were those enrolled in on-campus classes that transitioned online mid-term due to the pandemic. Participants (N=116; 62.9% women, 28.4% male) completed measures of personality (Big Five-Short Questionnaire, Morizot, 2014), Perceived Stress (Cogen et al., 1983), depressive symptoms (PHQ-9; Kroenke et al., 1999), anxiety symptoms (GAD-7; Spitzer, et al, 2006), and access to preferred coping activities. They were queried about health behaviors and beliefs about the novel coronavirus using an adapted version of the Health Protective Behaviors and Attitudes Towards Pandemic Influenza Measure (Liao, et al, 2010). To measure perceptions around online learning, participants completed the Online Learning Readiness Questionnaire (Penn State, 2020), and rated their faculty and university’s response to the rapid transition online. Data collection is complete and is currently being scored for analysis. Findings may contribute to knowledge about the effect of widespread crisis on emerging adult development, and may additionally provide insight into resources that could aid college students during times of crisis.

Authors

• Konner Baker, Saint Martin's University
  Presenting Author

• Angelica Heredia, Saint Martin’s University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Brandon Kam, Saint Martin's University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Emily F Coyle, Saint Martin's University
  Non-Presenting Author