The relationship between executive function and resilience among college students- a study during COVID-19

ABSTRACT

College was already a stressful time for many individuals, and COVID has added another major stress to change college life, highlighting the importance of stress management skills and increased cognitive resilience. The goals of the current study included 1) comparing stress, executive functioning (EF), resilience, alcohol use, and school connectedness of students during the pandemic and normed data;2) examining the relationship between resilience and stress;3) investigating the effects of class standing, alcohol use, and stress on EF (self-report and performance-based measures) and resilience;4) studying the interaction of class standing, alcohol use, and stress levels after the impact of an acute stressor on EF. Participants completed the Trail Making Test and Tower of London and the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test - Computerized followed by the Cued Go/No-Go Task. Data was collected from college students at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (n=462). Current findings indicated that students reported significantly less problematic alcohol use, alcohol use to cope, premeditation, school connectedness, as well as more stress and planning abilities than students prior to the pandemic. When comparing association among the variables, self-reported and performance-based EF were associated with resilience and school connectedness measures. Lowerclassman college students who endorsed severe stress with high problematic drinking reported less impulsive behaviors (i.e., more premeditation) than upperclassman students who endorsed severe stress with high problematic drinking. Additionally, Lowerclassman students who endorsed low problematic drinking rated themselves as possessing greater resilience than upperclassman students with high problematic drinking group. Also, upperclassmen who endorsed problematic alcohol use and severe stress made fewer omission errors than the rest of the sample after the acute stressor was presented. The current results demonstrated the changes in students' experiences during the pandemic associated with more stress than in previous cohorts, emphasizing the importance of building resources to increase students' resilience and connectedness to campus. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)