“I Hate It Here”: Mental Health Changes of College Students Living With Parents During the COVID-19 Quarantine

Abstract

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and college campus closure in early 2020, students returned to live at home in unprecedented circumstances. A sample of 336 college students reported about their experiences living at home and the extent to which they perceived their mental health declining during the stay-at-home order (quarantine). Multiple regression analysis indicated that being a freshman (compared to a senior), having more negative interaction with a parent, fearing for one’s own and one’s family’s health, perceiving less parental acceptance about being home, having low autonomy, and displaying less positive coping (not working to improve one’s self and strengthen family relationships, more idleness) associated with self-reported decreases in mental health during quarantine. Thematic analysis of open-ended responses suggested that students viewed the quarantine as relevant to their mental health, especially because of positive or negative family experiences, and to a lesser degree disruption of education and work norms.

Keywords

home environment family relationships mental health quarantine emerging adults

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