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. 2022 Aug;50(6):2746-2764.
doi: 10.1002/jcop.22817. Epub 2022 Feb 10.

The protective role of sense of community and access to resources on college student stress and COVID-19-related daily life disruptions

Olufunke M Benson  1 , Melissa L Whitson  1
Affiliations

The protective role of sense of community and access to resources on college student stress and COVID-19-related daily life disruptions

Olufunke M Benson et al. J Community Psychol. 2022 Aug.

Abstract

The aim of our study was to understand more about how college students have been impacted by the pandemic and how their universities can better support them by emphasizing protective factors that build resilience. The protective factors we explored were sense of community, perceived adequacy of resources, and perceived social support.We conducted an online survey, which was administered to 296 (70.4% female and Mage = 20.34) students from a private Northeastern University in the United States. There were gender and class year differences found after analysis. In addition, sense of community and perceived adequacy were found to be statistically significant. There were gender and class year differences found after analysis. In addition, sense of community and perceived adequacy were found to be statistically significant. Overall, our findings highlight the importance of sense of community and access to resources as protective factors in mitigating stress and coronavirus disease 2019-related disruptions to daily life among college students, particularly for female students who report more adverse outcomes.

Keywords: COVID-19; access to resources; college students; disruptions to daily life; protective factors; sense of community; stress.

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