Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on first-year college students: Racial/ethnic differences

Abstract

Prior research has shown that the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted American college students; however, few studies have focused on first-year students and their experiences with attending college during unprecedented circumstances. To address this gap, first-year college students (N = 268) completed online questionnaires assessing their perceptions of the extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic had impacted them in terms of access to resources and psychological well-being. Students also completed a measure of college-specific adjustment in the relational, psychological, and educational domains. Greater perceived COVID-19-specific resources impact was associated with lower educational adjustment. Greater perceived COVID-19-specific psychological impact was associated with lower levels of relational college adjustment and lower levels of psychological college adjustment. A multi-group analysis indicated that although the association between perceived psychological impact and college-specific psychological adjustment was significant for both White students and Black students, it was stronger among White students.