Who has to act? A qualitative exploration of emerging adults' critical consciousness during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic and violence against people of Color during 2020 brought troubling racial inequities to the forefront of American discourse. In line with the Critical Consciousness (CC) and Social Justice Youth Development (SJYD) frameworks, emerging adults may have developed their capacity for critical reflection, motivation, and action against systemic inequities. We drew from interviews with 27 emerging adults (ages 18-23) across the US, and used thematic analysis to explore differences in their reflections, motivations to act, and actions based on their racial/ethnic identification. We found nuanced variability in their critical reflections based on self, social, or global awareness and experiences of marginalization. White and Asian emerging adults used vague language or expressed feeling their reflections were insufficient. Black and Latinx emerging adults emphasized the importance of education and raising awareness. Although all emerging adults took action based on a sense of duty, few engaged in critical action; decisions to take in-person action varied based on whether they viewed racism or COVID-19 as a greater threat. Findings demonstrate that emerging adults' experiences of racialization may have related to their CC development. We share implications for community psychologists conducting antiracist research addressing White fragility and dismantling racial hierarchy.

‘Unsuitable’ environments: a qualitative study of US college youth learning online while sheltering-in-place in spring 2020

In late April 2020, we asked young adult college students to describe how they were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This study analyzes data from the 370 students (52.3% of all students surveyed) who chose to describe their experiences with online learning in their response. Many students, and especially students from marginalized backgrounds (e.g. women and transgender and gender diverse, LGBTQ+, low-socioeconomic position), reported diverse hardships that were induced and/or exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic that affected their learning. Most of these adverse experiences were tied to students’ shelter-in-place and remote learning conditions, which we frame as ‘unsuitable environments’, that limited students from engaging academically in the same ways they might have on campus. We situate these unsuitable environments within an intersectional social-ecological model to demonstrate how students’ transformed nested environments impact academic engagement and have implications for equity within institutions of higher education – an ecological disruption whose impacts remain important to evaluate in future research on online learning in higher education. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Youth Studies is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

"Emotional Distancing": Change and Strain in U.S. Young Adult College Students' Relationships During COVID-19.

We analyzed qualitative data from 707 USA college students aged 18-22 in late April 2020 regarding if and how their relationships had changed at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Most (69%) participants experienced relationship changes, most of whom (77%) described negative changes: less overall contact, feeling disconnected, and increased tension, some of which was due to conflict over pandemic-related public health precautions. Physical distancing from social contacts also created emotional distancing: it was harder to maintain affective connections via online platforms and within the isolating context of shelter-in-place. Due to emerging adulthood being a sensitive window for social development, the COVID-19 pandemic-induced emotional distancing could have long-term ramifications for this cohort's relationships over the course of their lives.

Opportunities to Reduce Young Adult College Students' COVID-19-Related Risk Behaviors: Insights From a National, Longitudinal Cohort.

PURPOSE: To study how young adult college students are managing their health behaviors and risks related to spreading COVID-19. METHODS: We created a national cohort of full-time college students in late April 2020 (n = 707), and conducted a follow-up survey with participants in July 2020 (n = 543). Participants reported COVID-19-related health risk behaviors and COVID-19 symptoms, and also responded to an open-ended prompt about how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected their lives. Quantitative data were analyzed in Stata and we conducted content analysis to identify themes in the qualitative data. RESULTS: For most health protective behaviors (e.g., frequent handwashing, social distancing), participants were less compliant in summer 2020 than spring 2020, with the exception of face mask use, which increased. In each month of the first half of 2020, only approximately half of participants with any symptoms that could indicate COVID-19 stayed home exclusively while symptomatic (there was no meaningful change from pre-pandemic or over the course of the pandemic). In qualitative data, the participants who had gone to bars or clubs at least twice within a 4-week period this summer reported being bored and/or isolated, stressed, and/or taking pandemic safety measures seriously. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest multiple areas for intervention, including harm reduction and risk management education approaches for the students who are going to bars and clubs, and creating policies and programs to better incentivize young people with symptoms to stay home exclusively while symptomatic.