“Grateful and Devastating at the Same Time”: Perceived Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic Among First-Year College Students from Marginalized Groups

Jocelyn Maeyama
Jocelyn Maeyama

Jocelyn ’22 is a rising senior from Los Altos, California. They are a psychology major interested in understanding well-being in marginalized groups and plan to apply to Wesleyan’s B.A./M.A. program for psychology. Outside of the lab, Jocelyn is a director for Fusion Dance Crew, one of Wesleyan’s three hip hop dance teams.

Abstract: Previous research has found that marginalized students face unique challenges in adjusting to college life (Syed 2010) and have been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic (Czeisler 2020). However, few studies have investigated the subjective experiences of college-attending emerging adults from socio-demographic minority groups during the pandemic. The present study explores the perceived impact of the COVID-19 pandemic among a sample of emerging adults at university. Participants were 32 first-year students (Class of 2024) at Wesleyan University, who identified as a member of at least one socio-demographic minority group (e.g., race-ethnicity, gender, sexuality, religion, first-generation, low income). Participants completed a 10-minute online survey and a 50-minute interview through Zoom as part of a longitudinal qualitative study. Data from the present study were based on the narrative responses to the question, “Can you tell me 2 words that describe your thoughts and feelings about the impact of COVID-19 on your life, personally? Please explain why you chose each word”. Results of thematic analysis revealed several themes that relate to students’ personal, social, and health domains. The 4 most common themes were: 1) Shock, sadness, and fear about the scope of the pandemic (72%); 2) Public health regulations limited movement (56%); 3) Positive experiences (38%); and Pandemic induced challenges to mental health (34%). Future research is needed to determine the long-term implications of the pandemic for minority students.

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