‘I miss going out into the world’: a qualitative diary study of college student perspectives on activities outside the home during the COVID-19 pandemic / ‘Extraño salir al mundo’: un estudio cualitativo de diario sobre las perspectivas de estudiantes universitarios acerca de las actividades fuera del hogar durante la pandemia de la COVID-19

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, college students faced unique challenges in weighing their own interests against public health risks. We thematically analysed solicited diaries written by 33 college students (18 women, 15 men) across the first two years of the pandemic, exploring their narratives written about activities, emotional valence, primary emotions, gender differences and changes over time. We identified 85 passages that focused on four emergent thematic categories of activities outside the home: taking care of necessities, navigating between destinations, socializing and spending time in nature. Passages about taking care of necessities were more negative in valence, whereas passages about spending time in nature were more positive. Women expressed more anger in their diaries than did men, but no other gender differences emerged. As the pandemic wore on, diarists wrote more about taking care of necessities and less about time in nature, and their emotions became more negative and less joyous. Extracts from diaries are provided. We discuss how the shifting frame of the pandemic’s ‘new normal’ impacted students’ daily lives and lessons to be learned.