Emerging Adulthood and College: An Examination of the Health and Wellbeing of Young Adult Students

Molly Cao1, Nicole Cannan1, Angelina R. Davis1, Stephanie V. Madden2, Jiabin Shen1, Samantha A. Miadich1 (1University of Massachusetts Lowell; Department of Psychology 2Nemours Children’s Health; Center for Healthcare Delivery Science)

Emerging adulthood presents unique changes and challenges, as this is a period of critical professional and personal development. An important change that many young adults face is starting college. Young adults in college must balance academic commitments and opportunities for friendships and connections in addition to handling greater independence and autonomy.

In particular, health behaviors and mental wellbeing are domains that can become quite challenging for young adults to manage, especially during their time in college and transition into independence. Considering this, any additional stressors may further exacerbate negative health outcomes.

This symposium integrates four empirical studies that each examine different stressors—adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), anxiety, sport-related injury, food security, and COVID-19 stress—and their impact on health outcomes using a large data set called the UML Pulse Study, which includes undergraduate college students at a public institution in Massachusetts.

Presenters will provide a brief overview of the study’s background, including its procedures and methodology, followed by four studies examining factors that impact well-being.

Project 1 examines the moderation of emotion regulation and resilience in the association between ACEs and risk-taking behavior. Project 2 examines the associations between childhood food security, anxiety, and risk-taking. Project 3 examines the mediating role of food security on the associations between sport-related injury and sleep. Project 4 examines the associations between COVID-related stress and daily sleep outcomes.

Collectively, the results of this symposium highlight how specific stressors influence college student health and wellbeing and how promotive factors may buffer the negative effects of such stressors on health outcomes.

The goal of this symposium is to engage in dialogue about stress-related factors that may affect the health and wellbeing of young adult college students and provide directions for future research to further support this population as they prepare to transition into adulthood, with a particular emphasis on what college campuses can do.