COVID-19 Vaccine Related Anxiety Partially Mediates the Association between COVID-19 Related Anxiety and Student Adjustment to College during the Pandemic

<p>The COVID-19 pandemic caused severe disruptions to the education of millions of college students, who were forced to adapt to sudden changes in living and learning environments. In this study, we sought to investigate two different dimensions of anxiety that were specific to the pandemic – COVID-19 related anxiety and COVID-19 vaccine anxiety – hoping to pinpoint the relationship between these two variables and students’ ability to adapt to college. Specifically, using cross sectional survey data during three semester waves (Spring 2021, Fall 2021, and Spring 2022) we hypothesized (1) a decreasing trend across time in both COVID-19 related anxiety and COVID-19 vaccine anxiety, and (2) an increasing trend in student adjustment to college. We also examined whether COVID-19 vaccine related anxiety mediated the association between COVID-19 related anxiety and student adjustment to college. Our results confirmed that anxiety decreased in both COVID-19 dimensions; however, student adjustment to college remained consistently low throughout the three waves. Our mediation analysis suggested that the relationship between COVID-19 related anxiety and student adjustment to college was complementarily mediated by COVID-19 vaccine related anxiety. We discuss the study’s implications and limitations. <strong></strong></p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (M.A.)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Year dc:date.available

2022

Author dc:creator

• Nguyen, Hanh

Contributors dc:contributor

• Robert Melara
• Sophia Barret
• Hawai Kwok

• COVID-19
• anxiety
• vaccine
• student adjustment to college
• mediation
• Applied Behavior Analysis
• Experimental Analysis of Behavior
• School Psychology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cc_etds_theses/1026

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:academicworks.cuny.edu:cc_etds_theses-2082