COVID-19 Disruption on College Students: Academic and Socioemotional Implications

Objective: The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic represents an acute worldwide public health crisis causing an immediate disruption to every demographic group. One group significantly affected both educationally and psychosocially is college students, as they experienced an abrupt cancellation of in-person courses, were forced to leave their dormitories, and witnessed a loss of social activities. Method: This study utilizes survey data from college students in the throes of COVID-19-based home schooling collected for a Belgium-based international study including more than 134,000 participants from 28 countries around the world. Two hundred fifty-seven college students from a U.S. university participated in this study. Results: Results indicate that college students are affected by COVID-19 on several levels, including fear of themselves or others in their social network contracting the virus, apprehension about the changes in coursework delivery and unclear instructional parameters, overall loneliness, compromised motivation, and sleep disturbances, as well as anxious and depressive symptoms. Conclusions: Analyses reveal a positive relationship between academic frustrations and mental health symptoms, the latter also negatively related to trust in the government regarding the preventive measures being implemented. Worries about becoming infected were positively related to mental health symptoms and negatively related to trust in the government. Results and implications are discussed.

Automated summary

The COVID-19 pandemic has a significant impact on college students, leading to fear of virus contraction, worries about changes in coursework, loneliness, compromised motivation, sleep disturbances, anxious and depressive symptoms. Academic frustrations are positively related to mental health symptoms, with trust in government measures playing a role as well.