Lauren M. Papp

While debate persists over the accuracy of retrospective self-reports of childhood family environments, empirical understanding of the stability of these assessments among young adults during stressful events remains limited. In response, this study examined whether college students’ perceptions of problematic childhood family environments changed across the COVID-19 onset. We leveraged a longitudinal dataset of 355 college students (237 female, Mage = 19.4 years, SD = 0.70; 118 male, Mage = 19.6 years, SD = 0.70), oversampled for recent substance misuse. Participants completed assessments over five to seven timepoints; the pandemic onset (13 March 2020) occurred near the midpoint of data collection. We employed piecewise growth-curve modeling (PGCM) to evaluate pandemic-onset-related changes in participants’ perceptions of problematic childhood family environments and the moderating effect of family co-residence during the acute pandemic onset. Results indicated that college students’ perceptions of problematic childhood family environments significantly but modestly increased from pre- to post-pandemic onset. Living with family during the acute disruption period did not moderate this change. In conclusion, stressful events like the COVID-19 outbreak could serve as a pivotal event associated with increased problematic perceptions of childhood family environments among young adults. We reinforce the necessity of adopting rigorous longitudinal, repeated-measures designs for retrospective assessments in family sciences. Additional conceptual and theoretical, methodological, and practical implications were discussed.

College students’ sense of belonging with their institution has been established as an important factor that improves their health and well-being. However, the extent to which students’ sense of belonging changes over their college experience—if at all—needs further examination. The current study employs a longitudinal design utilizing data repeatedly collected from the same students (N = 355; male 33.0% and female 67.0%; White 83.2%; baseline age range: 18–21 years) to examine changes in their sense of belonging over time. We also examined the extent to which different participant characteristics (i.e., sex, race/ethnicity, first-generation student status, and affiliation with Greek life organizations) are associated with change in belonging over time. College students’ belonging directly decreased over time, and race/ethnicity moderated this change such that being a student from a minoritized racial/ethnic group was associated with steeper drops in belonging. Educators and researchers are encouraged to further research this topic to determine how their classrooms, departments, and institutions can help foster students’ belonging and maintain that belonging over time.

The COVID-19 pandemic introduced fundamental challenges to nearly all aspects of college students' lives, yet changes in key domains of their health, including weight concerns, remain untested. The current study utilized a longitudinal project comprised of 355 young-adult college students (Mage=19.5, 66.8% female, 33.2% male) oversampled for recent substance use behavior. Participants completed multiple assessments (mode = 5) from September 2017 to September 2021. Piecewise growth-curve models tested whether COVID-19 onset was associated with changes in the trajectories of young adults' weight concerns. Analyses also examined participants' sex as a moderator of these trajectories. On average, participants reported a significant increase in weight concern levels around the start of COVID-19, although weight concern slopes were not significantly different before and after COVID-19. Additionally, moderation analyses showed that females (but not males) had a significant increase in weight concern levels after COVID-19 onset.

Research has established associations between romantic partners' health-related behaviors, although links between partners' experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic at the time of an important medical event remain untested. The sample was drawn from an existing study of patients who received a new opioid prescription at an emergency department visit for acute pain. We assessed COVID-19 experiences of 97 patients and their romantic partners from April 2021 through June 2022. Romantic partners reported similar ratings of COVID-19 impact and were likely to agree on their coping with the pandemic by engaging in more time on activities like puzzles or books, using marijuana, and drinking alcohol. Partners also demonstrated high concordance in their COVID-19 vaccination statuses. These findings extend a robust literature showing romantic partners' concordance in a host of health-relevant behaviors to their COVID-19 experiences.

College students' stress levels, coping strategies, and sleep quality are important indicators of functioning and further predict their health and well‐being. The current study utilises data repeatedly collected over more than 4 years from students enroled at a large public research university in the Midwestern US. Our data collection period coincided with the COVID‐19 pandemic's onset, facilitating systematic examination of whether and how college students' trajectories (i.e., level and slopes) of stress, coping, and sleep quality changed as the pandemic progressed. Across five waves, surveys assessed multiple outcome and predictor domains every 6 months. Analyses revealed differential courses of change for the outcomes. Stress levels were overall lower immediately after the onset but trended upwards as the pandemic continued. Reported coping reduced significantly after the onset and showed a steeper decline as the pandemic wore on. Sleep quality showed no significant pandemic changes over time, though sleep duration and timing showed initial onset effects. College students' stress, coping, and sleep changed in complex and nuanced ways after the pandemic's onset and findings from our longitudinal analyses expand upon those from previous limited repeated measure and cross‐sectional studies. Altogether, findings demonstrate multifaceted changes that may have ongoing effects to affect well‐being during key developmental stages.

BackgroundLimited prior research to examine co-occurrence of prescription drug misuse with other substances among young adults has documented outcomes that are more problematic for those with higher rates of co-ingesting alcohol. There is a need to understand how college students in this period of heightened risk use other salient substances in moments of their prescription misuse in daily life.MethodYoung-adult college students who engaged in recent prescription misuse (N = 297) completed ecological momentary assessment (EMA) over a 28-day period, resulting in 23,578 reports. Multilevel modeling examined within-person associations between other momentary substance use (including alcohol, nicotine, energy drinks, and marijuana) and prescription misuse in daily life. Analyses accounted for between-person characteristics, having a current focal prescription, and effects of reporting over time. Participant sex was also explored as a moderator.ResultsIn adjusted multilevel models, college students' momentary nicotine use and energy drink use each were associated with their greater likelihood of prescription misuse in daily life. In contrast, momentary marijuana use was linked with lower likelihood of misuse. Moderation results indicated that males (but not females) were less likely to engage in prescription misuse in moments of their alcohol use.ConclusionsDrawing from data obtained using EMA, findings provide novel insights about the real-world associations between prescription drug misuse and other salient substance behaviors during a developmental period that is important for establishing later substance use and health.

The present study addressed calls for research to identify real-time predictors of prescription drug misuse (Schepis et al., 2020) by testing young adults' momentary reports of their negative mood and positive mood as predictors of event-level misuse in daily life. We implemented a 28-day ecological momentary assessment (EMA) procedure that collected individuals' mood and other contextual experiences in moments preceding prescription drug misuse. Consistent with models of problematic substance use as a means to reduce negativity (Khantzian, 1997), results from hierarchical generalized linear modeling (HGLM) indicated within-person links between higher than usual negative mood and greater likelihood of prescription misuse in daily life. Contrary to the hypothesis, misuse was also more likely when preceded by elevated positive mood. We found consistent support for the hypothesized between-person effects, with prescription misuse in daily life associated with higher average levels of negative mood, and lower average levels of positive mood, across the reporting period. We further predicted that individuals reporting greater levels of social anxiety, depression, and externalizing symptoms would evidence stronger links between their momentary negative mood and prescription misuse. Partial support for this moderation hypothesis was found, with the positive within-person link between negative mood and prescription misuse significantly stronger among individuals higher (vs. lower) on social anxiety and depression. Results provide support for intricate connections between young adults' momentary mood, mental health symptoms, and prescription drug misuse. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).