The role of personal identity as a resource for college students during COVID-19.

Objective: We examined the role of personal identity vis-à-vis COVID-related outcomes among college students from seven U.S. campuses during spring/summer 2021. Participants: The present sample consisted of 1,688 students (74.5% female, age range 18-29). The sample was ethnically diverse, and 57.3% were first-generation students. Procedures: Students completed an online survey assessing personal identity synthesis and confusion, COVID-related worries, general internalizing symptoms, positive adaptation, and general well-being. Results: Personal identity synthesis was negatively related to COVID-related worries and general internalizing symptoms, and positively related to positive adaptation, both directly and indirectly through life satisfaction and psychological well-being. Personal identity confusion evidenced an opposing set of direct and indirect associations with outcome variables. Conclusions: Personal identity may potentially be protective against pandemic-related distress among college students, in part through its association with well-being. Reducing identity confusion and promoting identity synthesis are essential among college students during this and future pandemics.

Longitudinal Changes in Swiss Adolescent's Mental Health Outcomes from before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

This study aimed to explore changes in mental health outcomes (depression, anxiety, home, and school stress) from before the first COVID-19 wave (autumn 2019) to the later stages of the same wave (autumn 2020) in a sample of N = 377 Swiss adolescents (Mage = 12.67; 47% female). It also examined whether students' background characteristics (gender, immigrant status, and socio-economic status) and reported COVID-19 burden predicted students' outcomes and their intra-individual changes. Student's mental health, background characteristics, and reported COVID-19 burden were assessed by a self-report questionnaire. The intra-individual changes in students' scores were estimated using random coefficients regression analyses, with time points nested in individuals. To examine the effects of predictors (students' background characteristics and the reported COVID-19 burden) on outcome scores and changes, multilevel intercepts-and-slopes-as-outcomes models were used. The results showed that the expected impact of the pandemic on mental health was not noticeable in the later stages of the first COVID-19 wave. Only two effects were demonstrated in terms of intra-individual changes, namely, an effect of gender on depression and anxiety symptoms and an effect of reported COVID-19 burden on school stress symptoms. Moreover, few associations were found for selected predictors and students' mean level scores, averaged across both time points.