Psychological Reactions to COVID-19: Ambiguous Loss, Posttraumatic Growth, and Coronavirus Impact Among College Students

Objective: As social distancing and mask requirements lift, young adults may experience continued impacts from the pandemic. For example, college students may be particularly vulnerable to negative impact of COVID-19 due to social isolation, disruption to education, and lost personal and economic opportunity. Method: In order to investigate how psychological reactions (e.g., ambiguous loss, psychological growth) predict current COVID-19 impact, 224 students (M-age = 20.21, SD = 2.64) from a private liberal arts college completed a cross-sectional survey during February or March 2022. Results: Several demographic findings emerged, including increased impact among older students (B = .25, p = .01) and caregiving students (B = 2.14, p < .001), while ambiguous loss (B = .24, p < .001) appeared to be the strongest predictor after controlling for demographic factors and COVID awareness. Finally, the relationship between posttraumatic psychological growth and COVID impact was moderated by first-generation student status, B = .15, p = .04. Conclusions: First-generation students reported elevated levels of COVID impact even when reporting high levels of growth, while posttraumatic growth buffered impact among non-first-generation students. Results support the need for targeted college-based resources and services for students who may need long-term social support and trauma-informed intervention following the COVID-19 pandemic.