COVID-19’s Impact on Under-Resourced/Underrepresented College Students and their Peers

This research study aims to identify how alcohol, marijuana, and nicotine consumption behaviors have shifted in under-resourced/underrepresented college students at George Mason University since the pandemic. While alcohol and substance use appears customary in the lives of college students, the COVID-19 pandemic has created a concern about regulating these uses. The stresses that the pandemic has presented have caused even more attention to college student’s mental health and how that correlates to changes in substance use and alcohol. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing mental health issues along with changes in the environment (i.e housing and social constructs) might have caused a shift in alcohol, marijuana, and nicotine consumption behaviors in under-resourced/underrepresented college students at George Mason University.

[Title Page Slide] Clarissa: Hello everyone. My name is Clarissa Montes along with Zimako Chuks. This summer, we have had the opportunity to work with fellow undergraduate and graduate research assistants, volunteers, and Mason faculty advisors on our Summer Team Impact Project titled COVID-19’s Impact on under-resourced/underrepresented college students and their peers at George Mason University. [Slide 1] Clarissa: Although our team is made up of several individuals, this specific project consists of Zimako Chuks, Myself, and Samara Tahmid. Zimako is a Graduate Research Assistant working towards her MPH in Epidemiology. I am an Undergraduate Research Assistant going into my senior year majoring in Global Community Health. And Samara Tahmid is a Research Volunteer also working toward her MPH. We are very excited to be working on this project and sharing it with everyone. [Slide 2] Clarissa: So what is COVID-19? Well according to the CDC, coronavirus, or more commonly known as COVID-19, is a disease caused by a virus. Those who contract the virus typically experience mild symptoms, however, it is highly possible for people to experience life-threatening symptoms. Older populations and those with underlying medical conditions are more at risk for severe illness from COVID-19. Ways to protect yourself from infection include regular hand washing, physical distancing, face coverings, and most importantly getting vaccinated. [Slide 3] Clarissa: In the United States alone, there have been almost 35 million COVID-19 cases, over 600,000 deaths, and almost 164 million fully vaccinated individuals. Sadly, new variants are emerging causing even more reported cases. As a result, it is important that we all continue protecting ourselves and others to prevent spreading the virus even further. [Slide 4] Clarissa: While conducting the research, we as a group have recognized how impactful the COVID-19 pandemic has been on many populations, especially college students. Since the onset of the pandemic, several students reported challenges and changes pertaining to academics, economics, social relationships, moods, behaviors, substance use, and beliefs. What my group is specifically focusing on is substance use and how consumption behaviors have shifted as a result of the pandemic, particularly among under-resourced/underrepresented undergraduate students. [Slide 5] Zimako: Substance Use It is important to examine substance use because use and addiction can be dangerous and cause lifelong negative health outcomes. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, alcohol use among college students is a popular custom that several students see as an integral part of their college experience. After reviewing articles that examined substance use in college students around the world during the pandemic, they found that rates of alcohol, marijuana, and nicotine were extremely mixed. Many factors such as living at home, losing close relationships with friends, etc were associated with lower rates of drinking. Social distancing was associated with a decrease in group marijuana use, however, stay-at-home orders saw slight increases in solitary and at-home use. Some college students quit nicotine during the pandemic while others used the nicotine to cope with stress. [Slide 6] Zimako: Methods The overarching goal of this study was to collect oral histories to gain a better understanding of how Mason students’ lives were altered due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We recruited participants using Facebook Groups and email listservs and reached out to over 3,000 students, successfully interviewing 133 participants. We conducted semi-structured in-person interviews all led by student researchers. Participants asked open-ended questions during the interview about topics such as academic life, financial stability, substance use behaviors, beliefs, mental health, and general behaviors. Interviews were audio-recorded and automatically transcribed through zoom. Student researchers were tasked with editing the transcript and performing preliminary analyses to separate common themes. Our small group analyzed common substance use behavior themes. [Slide 7] Zimako: Findings So now, we will share some of our preliminary findings. [Slide 8] Zimako: Results After performing preliminary analysis, we found that 34% of participants did not use substances during the pandemic. Some participants stated that use decreased because they were away from social groups. This caused some participants to drink less and to quit substances such as nicotine and marijuana. Around 15% of participants stated they did not use substances for religious reasons. During the pandemic, Some participants grew stronger in their religious beliefs while others moved home and had religions and strict home environments that did not allow substance use. [Slide 9] Zimako: We hope to continue our project this year and write formal research papers for publication. Our next steps include using NVivo software to code qualitative data to find the specific frequencies of themes. We hope to incorporate the screener data in our analysis to draw comparisons between participants’ living situations and substance use. Finally, we hope to perform 2 to 5 person focus groups to more in-depth questions pertaining to substance use. Slide 10 Zimako: Thank you Thank you for listening to our presentation. Should you have any questions please reach out to me at zchuks@gmu.edu