The Role of Sense of Coherence During the COVID-19 Crisis: Does it Exercise a Moderating or a Mediating Effect on University Students' Wellbeing?

The COVID-19 crisis caused extensive mental health strains. Sense of coherence (SOC) is considered a protective factor for mental health in crisis that might also be decisive during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the mechanisms are not yet well understood. Using longitudinal survey data of 117 Austrian university students collected in 2020, we tested both moderating and mediating effects of SOC for the association of different stressors with later wellbeing. SOC did not buffer but mediated the effects of stressors on wellbeing. Students especially suffered from reduced feelings of manageability when confronted with financial strains, dissatisfying study situations, or disrupted plans. Supporting them in managing the difficulties of the crisis should therefore be considered a crucial part of psychosocial support.

Using an Intersectional Lens on Vulnerability and Resilience in Minority and/or Marginalized Groups During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Narrative Review.

Throughout the pandemic, the media and scholars have widely discussed increasing social inequality and thereby publicly pointed to often hidden and neglected forms of inequality. However, the "newly" arisen awareness has not yet been put into action to reduce this inequality. Dealing with social inequality implies exploring and confronting social privileges, which are often seen as the other side of inequality. These social constructs, inequality and privilege, are often discussed in light of vulnerability and resilience. This is particularly important in the context of the worldwide coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and efforts to end the pandemic, as both constructs are discussed regarding access to healthcare, vaccination, and education and knowledge, misinformation, social resources, economic resources, and so forth. Minority and/or marginalized groups may be particularly vulnerable to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, resilience factors in these groups may be neglected and underreported. This narrative review aims at illustrating the specific and intertwined aspects of resilience and vulnerability in minority and/or marginalized groups during the COVID-19 pandemic. To achieve this, we use an intersectional lens based on recommendations made by Moradi and Grzanka. A total of 48 articles were included in the narrative review. Most of them were commentaries focusing on social inequality, vulnerability, and/or resilience. Based on the dissection of articles at structural, systemic, and individual levels, we propose three hypothesis on vulnerability and resilience in minority and marginalized individuals and groups: (1) social inequality must be considered at a global level; inequality at a global level translates into a vulnerable context for an individual; (2) vulnerability is historically situated: vulnerability (experienced during the pandemic) is maintained and reinforced by history; (3) strength through collective (historical) hardship: vulnerability is not the opposite of resilience but may serve as an aspect of resilience. The conclusions drawn from this review show that we need to include diverse voices to advance concepts, such as vulnerability and resilience, in minority and marginalized groups. Additionally, these concepts are not necessarily in opposition to each other, but vulnerability should be understood as an integral part of resilience.

Discovering emotional patterns for climate change and for the COVID-19 pandemic in university students.

The global crises of climate change and of the COVID-19 pandemic are straining young peoples' mental health and their mitigation behaviours. We surveyed German-speaking university students aged 18 to 30 years on their negative emotions regarding both crises repeatedly before and during the COVID-19 crisis. Different emotional patterns emerged for climate change and for COVID-19 with negative emotions regarding COVID-19 increasing during the pandemic. We were further able to differentiate between emotional responses associated with impaired wellbeing and those associated with mitigation efforts. Our findings emphasise the need to focus on a mixture of highly inactivating and activating emotions regarding COVID-19 as they are associated with both reduced wellbeing and mitigation behaviours. The findings broaden the understanding of how young adults react to the burden of two global crises and what role negative emotions play.

University students' adherence and vaccination attitudes during the COVID-19 pandemic: Focusing on costs and benefits.

Numerous measures were implemented to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. Adhering to these measures as well as getting vaccinated is associated with subjective costs and benefits. Since young people like university students largely feel less vulnerable to the virus, other costs and benefits than health might be more decisive for them. This article combines the results of a qualitative and a quantitative longitudinal study conducted with university students mainly living in Tyrol, Austria. The studies focused on the second wave of infections of the COVID-19 pandemic. Health concerns, altruistic concerns, worrying about the economic consequences of the measures and reactance played an important role for students in deciding what measures to follow and their vaccination attitudes. The effects were partially mediated by understanding the measures' necessity. Qualitative results enabled further insights into thought processes during these decisions and revealed additional aspects, such as concerns about mental health consequences. This research suggests that students make their decisions about adherence and vaccinations based on a variety of aspects that they weigh against each other. Understanding the individual assessments of costs and benefits is crucial to promote both adherence to the measures against the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccination readiness.