SHARE YOUR VOICE

Share Your Voice Research Study

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the lives of people around the world. Notably, research has indicated that people from minority and underrepresented socio-demographic groups in the U.S. have been disproportionately negatively affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. In addition, following the murder of Geroge Floyd in May 2020, there were several anti-racism protests around the country, raising public awareness on issues based on deep-rooted systematic racism in the U.S. Importantly, even before the pandemic, the transition from high school to college has been documented as a critical transition for emerging adults, characterized by both opportunities and challenges for psychosocial functioning. For students of the Class of 2024, their college transition overlapped with the global pandemic and the public realization of systematic racism. These social events may have severely impacted their psychosocial adjustment and identity development both in the short- and long-term. Students from the underrepresented groups, especially, may be affected by those social factors during their entry to, and transition throughout university. Therefore, it is timely and important to understand the short-term and long-term implications of the Covid-19 pandemic among students from underrepresented socio-demographic groups in the U.S., within the context of their college careers. 

The Share your voice study was launched to document how the social climate of the COVID-19 pandemic interacted with students’ own personal characteristics to determine their college adjustment over time. This longitudinal qualitative study recruited participants from a small liberal arts university on the east coast. To be eligible, participants included member of the Class of 2024, who identified as a member of at least one of the following minority groups in the U.S, based on: race-ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religious, first-generation, or low income. Participants are invited to reflect on their college experiences at the end of each semester, through hour-long online interviews over the course of their 4 years at college. Interview questions are based on various aspects of psychosocial adjustment: identity development, COVID-19 experiences, interpersonal relationships (with family, friends, mentors, professors, and romantic partners), academic goals, social media use, and sleep.