ABSTRACT
The global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has significantly altered the lives of college students across the United States. Following the outbreak of COVID-19 in the spring of 2020, college campuses were shuttered, classes moved to remote instruction, and university activities, celebrations, and events were canceled. Cast against a backdrop of uncertainty about the future, studies have documented that the pandemic has significantly increased anxiety among college students as they adjust to a “new normal.” Drawing from general strain theory, we examine the influence of specific COVID-19-related strains on a variety of changes in student behavior including binge-watching streaming services, splurging on online shipping, sexting, “hooking up” with random people, and masturbating. Results using structural equation models on data from 1,287 students at a Midwestern university show that specific sources of strain directly are related to binge-watching, online shopping, hooking up with random people, and masturbating, while anxiety was directly related to increased binge-watching, online shopping, and sexting. Anxiety mediated the pathways between some sources of strain and binge-watching and splurging on online shopping. Overall, findings highlight that the global pandemic not only induces anxiety and interrupts academic life but also carries far-reaching consequences for a wide range of behaviors.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1 We also performed a factor analysis to examine the factor validity of the measures. A rotated factor analysis revealed three distinct factors comprised of the identical items for each scale we describe in this section: Presence of negative stimuli (Eigenvalue = 2.58), Removal of positively valued stimuli (Eigenvalue = 1.76), and Failure to achieve positively valued goals (Eigenvalue = 1.24). Overall, this factor analysis demonstrates that each strain scale captures a distinct factor.
2 Although the chi-square test statistic is significant in the models presented, it is typically unrealistic to find a non-significant chi-square test in structural equations using real data (see Browne and Robert Citation1993; Chen et al. Citation2008).
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Thomas J. Mowen
Thomas J. Mowen is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Bowling Green State University. His recent research explores non-traditional factors of crime and deviance including self-perceptions of attractiveness, paranormal beliefs, and life failures. Tom's recent work has appeared in Justice Quarterly, Crime & Delinquency, and Deviant Behavior.
Amanda Heitkamp
Amanda Heitkamp is a graduate student in the Department of Sociology at Bowling Green State University. Her research interests include stigma, labeling, and deviance. Amanda's work has appeared in Deviant Behavior and Sociological Inquiry.