A Daily Examination of Coping Strategies Used During Covid-19 and Feelings
of Stress and Overwhelm
harvis, J. S., Schulz, C., Drohan, M., Stamates, A., & Yang, M. (University of Rhode Island)
A Daily Examination of Coping Strategies Used During Covid-19 and Feelings
The finding regarding exercise was so interesting especially since it is highly endorsed, not only by your sample, but in our society! I’d love to hear more of your thoughts about that finding.
Thank you for your interest in our work and thoughtful comment.
It was definitely interesting to see! In our estimation, it is likely that in the context of the pandemic and the recommended guidelines at that time, including restrictions on social interactions, gatherings and use of public spaces (gyms included) the types of exercises engaged in by these College students while highly practiced, and an adaptive coping strategy may not have acted as a buffer against feelings of stress and overwhelm due to the heightened stressors faced, and possible changes in ways/settings exercises were practiced. Given the often social nature of exercise and the importance of social interactions and need for connection with others seen in the sample, we think it would be interesting to explore types of exercises, social interactions/connections and subjective appraisals of stress and overwhelm at a later point (given the changing nature of the pandemic), to see if these findings hold true.
These findings certainly have strong implications for the role of how to help students adjust to college. Teaching relaxation strategies and how to access social connection should be considered in first year courses (e.g., URI 101) to ensure there is equity and everyone has access to learning these skills! I’m curious if you have any thoughts on what specific types of skills students would benefit from learning?
Thank you for your comment, Sue.
The importance of courses such as URI 101 in helping to guide students in choosing adaptive ways to cope with the transition to college cannot be overlooked. In addition to the strategies you mentioned of teaching relaxation methods and accessing social connection – by way of being linked with relevant social networks and developing and maintaining healthy relationships, use of media may be an added resource in skill development. The increased use and comfort with media by students may be an avenue to increase psycho educational tools related to aspects of self-care, achieving work-life balance – being able to “turn off” from work, time management strategies, etc, adding to their personal skill sets to combat stress and increase well-being.