ABSTRACT
Objective: This article identifies how social class differences in undergraduates' relationships with their parents shaped their responses to educational disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Background: The mechanisms through which parents transmit class advantages to children are often hidden from view and therefore remain imperfectly understood. This study uses the case of the COVID-19 pandemic to examine how young adults from different social class backgrounds expect, negotiate, and attach meaning to parental support. Methods: This study draws from in-depth interviews with 48 Black and White upper-middle and working-class undergraduates from a single elite university, along with 10 of their mothers. Results: Facing pandemic-related disruptions, upper-middle-class students typically sought substantial direction and material assistance from parents. In contrast, working-class students typically assumed more responsibility for their own-and sometimes other family members'-well-being. These classed patterns of "privileged dependence" and "precarious autonomy" were shaped by students' understandings of family members' authority, needs, and responsibilities. Conclusion: Upper-middle-class students' greater dependence on parents functioned as a protective force, enabling them to benefit from parents' material and academic support during the transition to remote instruction. These short-term protections may yield long-term payoffs denied their working-class peers. Beyond the immediate context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the concepts of "privileged dependence" and "precarious autonomy" offer scholars a set of theoretical tools for understanding class inequality in other young adult contexts.
ABSTRACT
The restrictions adopted due to the COVID-19 health crisis established a new normality in the lives of children and adolescents in Spain. This study aims to explore the perception of adult caregivers and children and adolescents (from now CAs) regarding time, space, company, activities, screen time, and those aspects missed and desired during the lockdown. To do so, two online questionnaires were designed and distributed through foundations, schools and social networks. The sample consists of 270 adult caregivers and 126 CAs. The results show changes in play routines from the perspective of adults and CAs, who indicated that they: (1) had more leisure and play time, (2) had used various spaces at home, (3) had mostly played with their families, (4) had mostly carried out digital activities, (5) had seen an increase in their screen time and, lastly, (6) had missed and desired social interaction with their peers outside. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: People receiving opioid agonist treatment (OAT) are at higher risk of comorbidities, poverty and discrimination, which Big Events like the COVID-19 pandemic may exacerbate. The behaviours of people receiving OAT do not always align with normative behaviours as conceived by ruling institutions and laws, and so the group becomes a counterpublic, not imagined in mainstream public discourse. The aim of this study was to understand how people receiving OAT, as a counterpublic, implemented practises of care to mitigate negative health outcomes during COVID-19. METHODS: Participants were recruited via eight peer-led organisations across Australia. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were completed between August and December 2020 with 40 people receiving OAT. The analysis centres practises of care, allowing interactions that influence the health of participants, to be understood in their unique contexts. RESULTS: Aspects of the COVID-19 state response were designed for an idealised public, demonstrated by the increased policing that accompanied enforcement of restrictions which was detrimental to the wellbeing of people receiving OAT. Counterpublic health strategies employed by people receiving OAT were disrupted, but participants were often able to adapt to the changing context. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: This study elucidates how practises of care among people receiving OAT are enacted and disrupted during a Big Event, with implications beyond the COVID-19 pandemic for future Big Events. The study findings evidence the need for policies that mitigate the impact of Big Events such as supporting re-groupment within the counterpublic, legitimising counterpublic health strategies and stopping the criminalisation of people who use drugs.