Perceived social support and COVID-19 impact on quality of life in college students: an observational study
Creators: name: Cahuas, Ana
name: Marenus, Michele Wolf
name: Kumaravel, Varun
name: Murray, Andy
name: Friedman, Kathryn
name: Ottensoser, Haley
name: Chen, Weiyun
Publisher: name: Taylor & Francis
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Physiology
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: Evolutionary Biology
subject: 59999 Environmental Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: FOS: Earth and related environmental sciences
subject: Ecology
subject: Sociology
subject: FOS: Sociology
subject: 69999 Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: Science Policy
subject: 111714 Mental Health
subject: FOS: Health sciences

description: The purposes of this study were to assess the current status of perceived social support and COVID-19 impact on quality of life, to investigate the association of perceived social support with the COVID-19 impact on quality of life, and to examine differences in perceived social support between better and worse COVID-19 impact on quality of life for the total sample and by gender. Participants included 1296 university students (399 male, 871 female, 22 transgender, non-binary, or other) with a mean age of 21.5 (SD = 2.6 years) from a large public university in the Midwest region of the US. Students voluntarily completed two questionnaires and demographic information via Qualtrics based on a cross-sectional study design. The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) is a 12-item survey used to assess an individual’s perception of social support from significant others, friends, and family. The COVID-19-Impact on Quality of Life scale (COVID-19 QoL) is a 6-item scale used to assess the impact of COVID-19 on quality of life. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, multiple linear regression, independent <i>t</i>-tests, and ANCOVA. Multiple linear regression showed that perceived social support from family was a significant predictor of COVID-19 QoL (<i>F</i> = 35.154, <i>p</i> &lt; .01) for the total sample. Further, <i>t-</i>test demonstrated significant differences between males and females on perceived social support (<i>t</i> = −2.184, <i>p</i> &lt; .05) as well as COVID-19 QoL (<i>t</i> = −5.542, <i>p</i> &lt; .01). Results of ANCOVA demonstrated a significant group effect on perceived social support for both males (<i>F</i> = 10.054, <i>p</i> &lt; .01, <i>η<sup>2</sup></i> = .025) and females (<i>F</i> = 5.978, <i>p</i> &lt; .05, <i>η<sup>2</sup></i> = 0.007), indicating that the better quality of life group scored higher on perceived social support than low quality of life. Social support from family may act as a key buffer for quality of life during the fall semester of 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic in college students. With social interactions restricted during COVID-19, maintained access to social support is highly important.KEY MESSAGESSocial support is a crucial contributing factor to the impact of COVID-19 on quality of life, and support from social relationships may buffer these challenging and unpredictable times.The COVID-19 pandemic may have impacted the quality of life of males and females differently. Social support is a crucial contributing factor to the impact of COVID-19 on quality of life, and support from social relationships may buffer these challenging and unpredictable times. The COVID-19 pandemic may have impacted the quality of life of males and females differently.