Generation COVID: Young adult substance use

Problematic Substance Use among Sexual Minority and Heterosexual Young Adults during COVID-19

“…We offer two interpretations of this null finding. First, our study was conducted during the first year of the pandemic, and thus this result should be interpreted as “developing”, as the association between the pandemic mental health crisis and substance use has yet to fully unfold, especially among marginalized populations [ 11 ].…”

“…Therefore, we cannot fully disentangle whether there was an acute increase or decrease in problematic substance use in our sample with the pandemic, only that whatever between group changes occurred across this six-year period were fairly parallel across HYAs and SMYAs. Among the broader young adult population, evidence suggests that substance use decreased during the beginning of the pandemic before rebounding in 2021 [ 11 , 47 ]. Though this trend is tentative and qualified based on individual and contextual differences, it aligns with the idea that pandemic-related changes in substance use may be more related to decreased access (and thus decreased substance use) rather than with increased stress (and thus increased substance use), at least early in the pandemic.…”

“…Current pandemic-focused research has highlighted young adults as a uniquely high-risk population for isolation [ 7 ], loneliness [ 7 , 8 ], and elevated rates of anxiety and depressive symptoms [ 9 ], as well as a population at peak risk for substance use beyond the pandemic [ 10 ]. However, less attention has focused on pandemic-linked changes in young adult substance use, especially among marginalized young adult populations such as SMYAs [ 11 ]. Therefore, whether the disparity in problematic substance use between SMYAs and HYAs persisted or increased during the pandemic remains unclear.…”

“…Exploring the latter, a daily diary study of SMYAs with no pre-pandemic comparison found COVID news exposure (a unique pandemic stressor) did not predict daily alcohol and marijuana use but did predict higher coping motives for both substances [ 14 ]. Therefore, initial studies suggest complexity in understanding not only the unique vulnerability of SMYAs to problematic drinking during the pandemic but also possible risk and protective factors [ 11 ]. In the current study, we explored factors linked to using substances to cope with distress to understand how and why substance use disparities between SMYAs and HYAs may have persisted or exacerbated during the pandemic.…”

An inclusive approach to transitioning to a research university: A college thriving course.

“…Even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, issues related to lack of sufficient student mental health services, increased social media exposure, rising tuition costs and financial concerns, expanding family obligations, and changing undergraduate admissions landscapes affected student attendance and success (Armstrong-Carter et al, 2022; Brown, 2022; Nesi et al, 2018a, 2018b; Naffi et al, 2020). COVID-19 practices and policies affected college students differently than other emerging adults as a function of the university context (Hussong et al, 2023) and have been associated with lasting effects involving increased social media overuse, social isolation, and loneliness (Reyes-Portillo et al, 2022; Parlak Sert & Başkale, 2023; Tasso et al, 2021), decreased academic engagement due to forced remote learning, and increased general anxiety (Nails et al, 2023)—all of which created numerous “postCOVID” negative effects for college students. Curricular experts and administrators are especially observing signs of these effects in academic domains where knowledge builds from course to course (e.g., science, math).…”