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  • Life Stressors as Predictors of Community College Students’ Course Outcomes: The COVID-19 Pandemic as a Focusing Event
Title: Life Stressors as Predictors of Community College Students’ Course Outcomes: The COVID-19 Pandemic as a Focusing Event
Background or Context:The COVID-19 pandemic may be considered a focusing event that has drawn greater attention to the physical and mental health of community college students. Purpose, Objective, Research Question, or Focus of Study:This study examined community college students’ self-reported life stressors pre- and post-pandemic-onset to identify any reported differences, both in occurrence and in impact on course completion. Research Design:Surveys were collected after the COVID-19 pandemic onset at the City University of New York’s largest community college. The 529 students enrolled in STEM subjects were asked about potentially stressful life events experienced during spring 2020 and how strongly these impacted the time or energy they had for their studies (response rate 88.2%). Conclusions or Recommendations:Students’ reporting of the presence of life stressors, as well as their rating of the impact on their studies, were significantly predictive of subsequent course outcomes. However, stressors reported as beginning prior to the pandemic had a larger and more significant relationship with course outcomes than those reported as beginning after pandemic onset. Further, stressors were already highly prevalent prepandemic, with over three-quarters of students reporting them. Although the pandemic may have drawn attention to the existence and impact of stressors, it may simply be a focusing event that drew heightened attention to a pre-existing issue. Results from this study indicate that life stress may significantly impact the outcomes of community college students even outside of pandemic conditions, suggesting that this is a critical area for community colleges to address.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2300725 1920599
PAR ID:
10596448
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ;
Publisher / Repository:
Sage Journals
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education
Volume:
126
Issue:
6-7
ISSN:
0161-4681
Page Range / eLocation ID:
182 to 200
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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