First-year college students in the 2019-2020 academic year are at risk of having their mental health, identity work, and college careers derailed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. To assess emerging and evolving impacts of the pandemic on mental health/well-being, identity development, and academic resilience, we collected data from a racially, ethnically, geographically, and economically diverse group of 629 students at four universities across the US within weeks of lockdown, and then followed up on these students’ self-reported mental health, identity, and academic resilience three times over the following year. Our findings suggest that: 1) students’ mental health, identity development, and academic resilience were largely negatively impacted compared to pre-pandemic samples; 2) these alterations persisted and, in some cases, worsened as the pandemic wore on; and 3) patterns of change were often worse for students indicating more baseline COVID-related stressors.

Mastery involves a sense of having control over one's surroundings and an ability to accomplish meaningful goals and determine important meaningful outcomes across situations. Mastery is a dynamic, learned resource that has implications for mental health. Although mastery is known to be influenced by exposure to family members (i.e., parental socialization, parenting styles; provided opportunities for autonomy and choice) there remain few long-term considerations of intergenerational transmission of mastery within families and the enduring implications for offspring's mental health and adjustment. Using a nationally representative sample from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, the current study addresses the longitudinal effects of mothers' early sense of mastery on adolescent and adult offspring's mastery and well-being. In considering mothers' reports between 1987 and 1992 and offspring's ongoing reports between 1994 and 2012; this study addressed questions about direct, moderated, and mediated mother effects on longitudinal offspring outcomes. Mother mastery and mother self-esteem predicted offspring's respective reports, but only mother mastery predicted offspring depressive symptoms. Effects of mother mastery, but not mother self-esteem, were moderated by offspring age. Older offspring of high mastery mothers showed the largest benefits for reported mastery. Older offspring of low mastery mothers reported the greatest concerns with depressive symptoms. Last, effects of mother mastery on offspring depressive symptoms were mediated by offspring mastery and self-esteem. We discuss the fit of these findings with existing theories and empirical work on intergenerational transmission.

First-year college students in the 2019-2020 academic year are at risk of having their mentalhealth, identity work, and college careers derailed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. To assess emerging and evolving impacts of the pandemic on mental health/well-being, identity development, and academic resilience, we collected data from a racially, ethnically, geographically, and economically diverse group of 629 students at 4 universities across the US within weeks of lockdown, and then followed up on these students’ self-reported mental health, identity, and academic resilience three times over the following year. Our findings suggest that: 1) students’ mental health, identity development, and academic resilience were largely negatively impacted compared to pre-pandemic samples; 2) these alterations persisted and, in some cases, worsened as the pandemic wore on; and 3) patterns of change were often worse for students indicating more baseline COVID-related stressors.

The COVID-19 pandemic has threatened lives and livelihoods, imperiled families and communities, and disrupted developmental milestones globally. Among the critical developmental disruptions experienced is the transition to college, which is common and foundational for personal and social exploration. During college shutdowns (spring 2020), we recruited 633 first-year U.S. students (mean age = 18.83 years, 71.3% cisgender women) to provide narratives about the impacts of the pandemic. We tested the ways narrative features were associated with concurrent and longitudinal COVID stressors, psychosocial adjustment, and identity development. Narrative growth expressed in spring 2020 was positively associated with psychosocial adjustment and global identity development and was negatively associated with mental health concerns. Associations were supported concurrently and at 1-year follow-up. Growth partly explained associations between COVID stressors and students’ adjustment. Our findings reinforce the importance of growth for resilience and underscore the importance of connective reasoning as people navigate a chronic stress.

No abstract