“It’s Really Hard to Have Your Own Place”: The At-Home Experiences of Latina/o/x Undergraduates During COVID-19

Abstract

Spanish

The purpose of this study was to understand the at-home lived experiences of Latina/o/x college students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using Critical Race Theory as the guiding framework, the authors used storytelling to capture the at-home experiences of 19 Latina/o/x college students during the pandemic. Findings revealed how the pandemic shifted meaning of the home space, increased roles and responsibilities, and increased stress and mental health demands for students.

Keywords

COVID-19 pandemic Latina/o/x student experiences storytelling

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Ahn

Dominguez-Villegas

(2022) A change of plans: How the pandemic affected students of color and their plans for higher education. UCLA Latino Policy & Politics Initiative. https://latino.ucla.edu/research/fact-sheet-education-covid/

Atske

Perrin

(2021). Home broadband adoption, computer ownership vary by race, ethnicity in the U.S. Pew Research Center.

Bell

D. A.

(1976). Serving two masters: Integration ideals and client interests in school desegregation litigation. The Yale Law Journal, 85(4), 470–516. https://doi.org/10.2307/795339

Bell

D. A.

(1980). Shades of brown: New perspectives on school desegregation. Teachers College Press, Columbia University.

Bulman

Fairlie

(2022). The impact of COVID-19 on community college enrollment and student success: Evidence from California administrative data. Education Finance and Policy, 17(4), 745–764.

Chapman

T. K.

Contreras

Martinez

(2018). African American parents and their high-achieving students: Issues of race, class, and community in the college choice process. Journal of African American Studies, 22(1), 31–48.

Chen

C. Y. C.

Byrne

Vélez

(2022). Impact of the 2020 pandemic of COVID-19 on Families with school-aged children in the United States: Roles of income level and race. Journal of Family Issues, 43(3), 719–740.

Cioè-Peña

(2022). Computers secured, connection still needed: Understanding how COVID-19-related remote schooling impacted Spanish-speaking mothers of emergent bilinguals with dis/abilities. Journal of Latinos and Education, 21(3), 224–238.

Covarrubias

Valle

Laiduc

Azmitia

(2019). “You never become fully independent”: Family roles and independence in first-generation college students. Journal of Adolescent Research, 34(4), 381–410.

10.

Creswell

J. W.

Creswell

J. D.

(2018). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (5th ed.). SAGE.

11.

Delgado

(2006). Rodrigo’s roundelay: Hernandez v. Texas and the interest-convergence dilemma. Harv. CR-CLL Rev., 41, 23.

12.

Delgado Bernal

. (2002). Critical race theory, Latino critical theory, and critical raced-gendered epistemologies: Recognizing students of color as holders and creators of knowledge. Qualitative Inquiry, 8(1), 22.

13.

Delgado Bernal

Burciaga

Flores Carmona

. (2012). Chicana/Latina testimonios: Mapping the methodological, pedagogical, and political. Equity & Excellence in Education, 45(3), 363–372. https://doi.org/10.1080/10665684.2012.698149

14.

Errisuriz

V. L.

Villatoro

A. P.

McDaniel

M. D.

(2022). Contextualizing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the educational experiences and outcomes of Latinx college students in Texas. Journal of Latinos and Education, 21(3), 319–334. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348431.2022.2052294

15.

Garcia

K. A.

(2022). Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the future generation of Latinx physicians. Journal of Latinos and Education, 21(3), 335–345. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348431.2022.2051709

16.

Garcia

M. A.

Homan

P. A.

García

Brown

T. H.

(2021). The color of COVID-19: Structural racism and the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on older Black and Latinx adults. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 76(3), e75–e80. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbaa114

17.

García-Louis

Hernandez

Aldana-Ramirez

(2022). Latinx community college students and the (In) opportunities brought by COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Latinos and Education, 21(3), 277–288.

18.

Hayes-Bautista

Hernandez

G. D.

Hsu

(2021). The first year of Latino COVID-19 deaths: Why should anyone care? Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture.

19.

Hayes-Bautista

Hsu

(2020). For whom the bell tolls: COVID-19 death patterns in California. Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture.

20.

Hernández

Garcia

Nazario

Rios

Domínguez-Villegas

(2021). Latinas exiting the workforce: How the pandemic revealed historic disadvantages and heightened economic hardship. UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Initiative. https://latino.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Latinas-Exiting-the-Workforce.pdf

21.

Hinojosa-Ojeda

Robinson

Domínguez-Villegas

Telles

Valenzuela

Jr., Aguilar

(2020). Undocumented during COVID-19: Essential for the economy but excluded from relief. UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Initiative. https://latino.ucla.edu/research/undocumented-during-covid-19-essential-for-the-economy-but-excluded-from-relief/

22.

Ladson-Billings

Tate

W. F.

(1995). Toward a critical race theory of education. Teachers College Record, 97(1), 47–68.

23.

Martinez

Barraza

Paredes

A. D.

(2022). Transitioning during a pandemic: Examining the institutional response to the COVID-19 pandemic for Latina/o/x first year and new transfer students. Journal of Latinos and Education, 21(3), 289–303. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348431.2022.2052295

24.

Martínez

M. E.

Nodora

J. N.

Carvajal-Carmona

L. G.

(2021). The dual pandemic of COVID-19 and systemic inequities in US Latino communities. Cancer, 127(10), 1548–1550. https://doi.org/10.1002/cncr.33401

25.

McClure

E. S.

Vasudevan

Bailey

Patel

Robinson

W.R.

(2020). Racial capitalism within public health—How occupational settings drive COVID-19 disparities. American Journal of Epidemiology, 189(11), 1244–1253. https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwaa126

26.

Means

Neisler

with Langer Research Associates. (2020). Suddenly online: A national survey of undergraduates during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Digital Promise.

27.

Merriam

S. B.

Tisdell

E. J.

(2016). Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation. John Wiley & Sons.

28.

Mshigeni

Arroyo-Romano

Becerra

(2022). “We don’t all have the privilege of having our own quiet place”: College Students in a Hispanic Serving Institution during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Journal of Latinos and Education, 21, 251–265.

29.

Ong

Gonzalez

Pech

Diaz

Ong

Aguilar

(2020) Struggling to stay home: How COVID-19 shelter in place policies affect Los Angeles County’s Black and Latino Neighborhood. UCLA Latino Policy & Politics Initiative. https://latino.ucla.edu/research/struggling-to-stay-home-how-covid-19-shelter-in-place-policies-affect-los-angeles-countys-black-and-latino-neighborhoods/

30.

Protecting Immigrant Families. (2021). Immigrant eligibility for public programs during COVID-19. Retrieved May 1, 2022, from https://protectingimmigrantfamilies.org/immigrant-eligibility-for-public-programs-during-covid-19/

31.

Puente

(2022). A critical race spatial analysis of rural Latinx students’ college (In) opportunities and conscious choices during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Latinos and Education. 21(3), 304–318. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348431.2022.2051040

32.

Saldaña

(2013). The coding manual for qualitative researchers (2nd ed). SAGE.

33.

Solórzano

D. G.

(1998). Critical race theory, race and gender microaggressions, and the experience of Chicana and Chicano scholars. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 11(1), 121–136. https://doi.org/10.1080/095183998236926

34.

Solórzano

D. G.

Yosso

T. J.

(2002). Critical race methodology: Counter-storytelling as an analytical framework for education research. Qualitative Inquiry, 8(1), 23–44.

35.

Vargas

E. D.

Sanchez

G. R.

(2020). COVID-19 is having a devastating impact on the economic well-being of Latino families. Journal of Economics, Race, and Policy, 3(4), 262–269.

36.

Zimmermann

Bledsoe

Papa

(2021). Initial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on college student mental health: A longitudinal examination of risk and protective factors. Psychiatry Research, 305, 114254.

37.

Zottarelli

L. K.

Moreno

Miranda

Sunil

T. S.

(2021). Basic needs initiativesat texas community college Hispanic-serving institutions: changes in service offerings during the Covid-19 pandemic. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 46(1–2), 138–144. https://doi.org/10.1080/10668926.2021.1973611