The Relationship Between Resilience and Social Support Among College Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Due to the unprecedented and unexpected nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is little data to date that have investigated the impact on college students. The current study evaluated the relationships between resilience, social support, and distress levels among college students during the COVID-19 pandemic. One-hundred and ninety-one college students in a psychology course completed three measures assessing resilience, social support, and distress during the COVID-19 pandemic. The first hypothesis was that as social support increases, then resilience will also increase in a college population during a worldwide pandemic. A second hypothesis was that as resilience increases, then distress will decrease among this population. A third hypothesis was that as social support increases, then distress will also decrease among college students during the COVID-19 pandemic. To further evaluate the relationships between these constructs, it is hypothesized that resilience and social support will predict low distress levels in participants. There was a significant correlation found between resilience and social support. There were significant negative correlations found between resilience and distress and social support and distress. Results indicated that there was a collective significant effect between resilience, social support, and distress. Social support made a stronger contribution to distress than resilience. Resilience was not significantly predictive of distress while social support was significantly predictive of distress scores. The Relationship Between Resilience and Social Support Among College Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of Department of Psychology Abilene Christian University In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science In Clinical Psychology By Amy Baskin May 2021 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to express my sincere appreciation to my thesis committee chair, Dr. Cherisse Flanagan for her invaluable supervision, support, and tutelage during the course of this project as well as during my time at ACU. I would also like to thank the other members of my thesis committee (Dr. Richard Beck and Dr. Scott Perkins) for your encouragement and guidance which has not been just limited to this project. As I reflect upon my short but profound two-year journey at ACU, I recognize the positive influence each professor has had upon my life. To my parents, thank you for your unwavering love and support wherever I go and in whatever I pursue. I also wish to thank my friends especially those in my awesome little cohort for your encouragement, humor, and support (including but not limited to hearing about this study over and over for an entire year) all of which were much needed throughout this process. I am grateful for every one of you. TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES . v I. LITERATURE REVIEW . 1 Pandemic (“Life Upside Down”) . 1 Transition to Online Learning . 2 Advantages to Online Learning . 3 Challenges to Online Learning . 4 Previous Studies on Online Learning . 5 Financial Challenges . 5 Living Accommodations . 7 Cancellation of Events . 8 Adjustment to New Safety Procedures . 9 Communication . 9 Social Support . 10 Social Support Before Pandemic . 10 Family Support . 10 Peer Support . 11 First-Generation College Students . 12 Studies Over Other Groups of College Students . 14 University Faculty and Staff Members . 15 Social Support During Pandemic . 15 What is Resilience? 18 Resilience Among College Students . 19 Resilience and Disaster/Stressful Events Among College Students . 21 Resilience Among College Students During COVID-19 . 22 Social Support and Resilience . 23 Resilience in Adverse Events . 24 The Current Study . 25 II. METHOD . 27 Description of Sample . 27 Selected Measures . 30 Resilience Assessment Questionnaire . 30 Medical Outcomes Social Support Survey . 31 Distress During Pandemic Scale . 32 Procedure . 33 Data Analysis . 33 III. RESULTS . 34 Resilience and Social Support Hypothesis . 34 Gender Differences . 35 College Classification Differences . 36 Resilience and Social Support on Distress . 38 IV. DISCUSSION . 40 Overview of Results . 40 Limitations of Current Study . 41 Future Directions . 43 Implications of Current Study . 45 REFERENCES . 50 APPENDIX A: Institutional Review Board Approval Letter . 68 APPENDIX B: Resilience Assessment Questionnaire . 70 APPENDIX C: Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Survey . 72 APPENDIX D: Distress During Pandemic Scale . 74