Generation covid: Experiences of the coronavirus pandemic among secondary school graduates of 2020 in Ireland

Figures & data

Table 1. Participant characteristics

Sequence	Pseudonym	Location	School attended	Living with
1	Catriona	Capital	State	Parents and sibling
2	Emily	Capital	State	Parents and siblings
3	Alex	Capital	Private	Parents and siblings
4	Julie	Capital	State	Parents and sibling
5	Lilly	Capital	State	Parents and sibling
6	Brian	Capital	State	Parents, siblings and niece
7	Nicole	Capital	Private	Parents and siblings
8	Derek	Town	State	Parents and siblings
9	Lucy	Capital	State	Parents and sibling
10	May	Capital	Private	Parents and siblings
11	Caroline	Town	State	Parents and sibling
12	Cathy	Abroad	Private	Partner
13	Rosie	Town	State	Mother
14	Evie	Village	State	Mother and sibling

Table 2. Participants by the category of “shielded”, “worried/uncertain”, and “discontented”

	Key characteristics and experiences	Participant	Immediate future plan
The shielded	Supportive family and strong friendships; summer job; journaling	Emily	Teacher training (local university)
	Supportive family; summer job; ambitious but easy-going about college options	Nicole	Human health-related (local university)
	Optimistic interpretation of learning from pandemic	Lilly	Human health-related (local university)
	Focus on social networking and planful attitude to college	May	Applied arts (local college)
	Maintaining a relaxed “wait and see” attitude	Caroline	Commerce with language (university ca. 1–2 hours from parental home)
	Eagerly awaiting the next phase of life	Rosie	Social science degree (university ca. 3 hours from parental home)
The worried/uncertain	Managing mental health and facing future uncertainty with resilience	Cathy	Open (gap year)
	Uncertainty about school performance and future pathway; sickness; moderate level of conflict in family	Brian	No clear preference (one of the local universities)
	Moderate concerns around social interaction and start of university; disclosed anxiety during lockdown but also liked the rules	Catriona	Social science degree (local university)
	Concerns around social interaction and start of university; critiquing own school’s delivery of online education	Lucy	Financial/legal (local university)
The discontented	Moderate critique of education and lockdown policy	Derek	Human health-related (university within commuting distance)
	Strong critique of pandemic management; creative (music)	Julie	Science degree (local university)
	Extensive critique of government policies; made a time capsule	Alex	Humanities (university abroad)
	In-depth critique of government policies; elaborate journaling	Evie	Applied maths (university abroad)