Longitudinal Associations Between Well-Being and Academic Achievement Throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic: Testing the Moderating Role of Academic Stress Among First-Generation and Continuing College Students

First-generation and ethnic-racial minoritized college students experience greater academic disparities, but limited work has focused on intersectional experiences underlying academic achievement in higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic over time. The present longitudinal study examined the associations between various forms of well-being (i.e., emotional, psychological, and social) at T1 (Time 1; acute pandemic) predicting academic achievement grade point average (GPA) at T2 (ongoing pandemic), while accounting for T1 GPA. We also examined whether academic stress disrupted the association between T1 well-being and T2 GPA. We tested differences between first-generation college students of color, continuing (i.e., students who are not first-generation college students) college students of color, first-generation college White students, and continuing college White students (N = 880). Consistent with expectations, results indicated that the associations varied based on the intersection of ethnic-racial background and college student generational status. Among first-generation college students of color and continuing college students of color, psychological well-being at T1 predicted higher GPA at T2 but only when academic stress was low (high academic stress disrupted this association, and it became nonsignificant). Among continuing students of color, T1 emotional well-being predicted greater T2 GPA. Inconsistent with expectations, among continuing White students, T1 social well-being was associated with lower T2 academic achievement. Overall, findings indicate that examining the intersectionality of identities provides an important, nuanced understanding of students' academic achievement and how academic stress impedes positive processes over time.