U.S. agricultural university students' mental well‐being and resilience during the first wave of COVID‐19: Discordant expectations and experiences across genders

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic's first wave led to declining mental health and life satisfaction outcomes for college students, especially women. While women in undergraduate agricultural programs outperformed men academically prior to and during the pandemic, the achievement may have come at personal cost, especially for those women with fewer personal and environmental resiliency resources. Our research objective was to expand on personal, social, and environmental factors linked with lower mental health and life satisfaction scores for students in agriculture during the pandemic. We measured the influence of such factors across gender‐based mental health and life satisfaction outcomes. Our data were collected from 2030 students using an on‐line survey across six land‐grant university college of agriculture in agriculturally as many distinct regions of the United States. We estimated OLS and Ordered Probit models of their mental health and life satisfaction self‐assessments. Our findings reveal students' mental health and life satisfaction were reduced due to a paucity of personal (e.g., less future orientation or graduate school aspirations, food and housing insecurity, and personal health risks) and environmental (e.g., lower quality on‐line learning experiences, isolation, family health risk, discrimination experiences) resiliency resources. Our results suggest women were more likely than men to be adversely affected by reduced resiliency resources. These findings suggest university emergency response policies need to address students' needs for housing and food security, on‐line course development and delivery, tele health and mental health resources, broad social inclusion and diversity to decrease risk of female attrition and support all students in agricultural degree programs.

A Synthesis of Research on Mental Health and Remote Learning: How Pandemic Grief Haunts Claims of Causality

“…In other words, our analysis of this literature suggests that the inequities that are present in our broader world are reflected in online/remote learning settings. For example, Ehmke et al (2022) observed that as individuals' reported experiences with discrimination decreased, so did their mental health and their perceptions of online learning. They also observed the inverse, that women who experienced less or no discrimination did not experience a decline in mental health and also had more positive views of online learning.…”

“…Echoing similar themes as Apgar and Cadmus (2022), other studies of mental health during the pandemic also similarly noted that on-campus students were experiencing declining mental health and quality of life. As a few examples, Amerson et al (2021) described this phenomenon in nursing programs, Ehmke et al (2022) focused on women in agricultural science programs, and Gusman et al (2021) explored a general undergraduate population. In light of the pre-pandemic evidence of a growing problem with mental health and well-being for on-campus, in-person learners, it is reasonable to infer that there are significant factors besides learning modality that impact student mental health.…”

Artificial intelligence and the future of learning and assessment in agricultural and applied economics

“…We add to the exploration of how AI-driven innovations are enhancing research capabilities, facilitating the dissemination of knowledge, and redefining pedagogical strategies. Our research contributes to the growing body of knowledge aimed at understanding and improving educational outcomes in the economics, agricultural economics, and agribusiness disciplines (Ehmke et al, 2022;House et al, 2007;Kiesel et al, 2021Kiesel et al, , 2020Offutt & McCluskey, 2022;Zuo et al, 2019). By examining a specific application and real-world examples of AI capabilities, we illuminate the ways in which AI technologies are optimizing learning experiences and empowering educators and students in the domain of agricultural economics.…”

Undergraduate enrollment intentions and willingness‐to‐pay for online to in‐person teaching modalities: Capturing heterogeneity across and within universities in the United States during the pandemic

“…These disruptions have affected student outcomes and preferences for learning such as the ability to attend classes (and college in general), and mental health and well‐being (Ehmke et al, 2022; Jaggars et al, 2020; Lederer et al, 2021; Soria et al, 2020). The pandemic also raised discussions concerning the value of residential and on‐campus experiences (Aucejo et al, 2021).…”