A Network Analysis of High School and College Students’ COVID-19-Related Concerns, Self-Regulatory Skills, and Affect

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the lives of many high school and college students, and recent studies indicate increased emotional distress in this age group. We examined associations among 10 pandemic-related concerns, 21 affects, and three self-regulatory skills using cross-sectional online survey data from high school and college students in two regions of the United States (Study 1: N = 392 and Study 2: N = 1,200). Network models of regularized partial correlation networks revealed both equifinal and multifinal pathways between specific COVID-19 concerns and positive and negative affects. In both studies, concern about conflict with parents was the pandemic-related concern most strongly connected to negative affects, mindfulness was most strongly connected to pandemic-related concerns and negative affects, and self-compassion was most strongly connected to positive affects. These findings provide greater insight into risk and resilience factors associated with students' emotional well-being during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).