Investigating the Relationships Between College Student Mental Health, Risk Perception, Protective Factors, and Academic Persistence in Responding to the COVID-19 Pandemic
Open Access
- Author:
- Zhai, Yusen
- Graduate Program:
- Counselor Education
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- March 04, 2021
- Committee Members:
- Jolynn Carney, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Jolynn Carney, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Diandra Prescod, Committee Member
Julia A Green Bryan, Committee Member
Mary Beth Oliver, Outside Member
Liza Marie Conyers, Committee Member
Jolynn Carney, Program Head/Chair - Keywords:
- COVID-19
Mental Health
Risk Perception
Optimism
Help-seeking
Social Support
Academic Persistence
College Student
Higher Education
Marginalized Students
Disproportionate Impact
Health Disparities
Inequalities - Abstract:
- The COVID-19 pandemic has upended a plethora of lives worldwide. Students enrolled in institutions of higher education are not immune to the significant impact of the pandemic, encountering myriads of challenges that lead to poor mental health and academic persistence. The pandemic has also created a disproportionate impact on marginalized students, such as racial, ethnic, and sexual minority students as well as students with disabilities, amplifying inequalities in a time of crisis. Constructs investigated, in this study, included the relationships of college students’ risk perception of COVID-19, mental health, protective factors (optimism, help-seeking, social support), and academic persistence in response to the COVID-19 pandemic among 1051 college students, including racial, ethnic, and sexual minority students, students with disabilities, international students, and first-generation college students, from various higher education institutions across the United States. Also examined was the risk perception of COVID-19, mental health, protective factors, and academic persistence in different demographic groups of college students in response to the pandemic, shedding light on the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on marginalized college students in the United States. Results from structural equation modeling revealed that both risk perception of COVID-19 and mental health contributed to academic persistence directly and indirectly through protective factors. The greater risk perceptions of COVID-19 were associated with higher levels of academic persistence among college students. Risk perception of COVID-19 and mental health were found to be negatively associated. Results showed that optimism did not mediate the effect of risk perception on help-seeking behaviors but did fully mediate mental health effects on help-seeking behaviors, suggesting that individuals with higher levels of optimism may not underestimate the risk of the infectious disease and thus reduce health-related behaviors. Findings highlighted the fundamental role of social support in mitigating the deleterious effects of the pandemic to promote academic persistence. Findings from this study also provided empirical evidence for the first time, suggesting the positive effects of risk perception of COVID-19 on protective behaviors as well as academic persistence in U.S. college students. Results from the independent sample t-test revealed that marginalized students were disproportionately affected during the COVID-19 pandemic. Racial, ethnic, and sexual minority students and students with disabilities demonstrated less academic persistence, mental health, and social support compared with their peers; meanwhile, they were more likely than their peers to perceive greater risk of COVID-19. The results from structural equation modeling and t-test provided empirical evidence and implications that inform strategic plans at the individual, institutional, community, and policy levels to mitigate the detrimental effects of COVID-19 on college students. Specific implications for higher education leadership, faculty, administrators and stakeholders, mental health providers, professional counselors (e.g., mental health and career counselors), and counselor educators are discussed.