The COVID-19 pandemic created a host of difficulties for college students. There is research noting the unique vulnerability of this population's DASS symptoms and further connections of coping strategies. The current study aims to provide a snapshot of this unique time in higher education by examining the relationship between perceived difficulty, retrospectively, in the Spring 2020 semester and DASS symptoms in the Fall 2020 semester, and moderators of coping strategies in a sample of USA university students (n = 248; Mage = 21.08, SD = 4.63; 79.3% = Female). The results yielded a clear predictor relationship between perceived difficulty and symptoms of DASS. However, only problem-solving coping strategy proved a significant moderator for stress; surprisingly, problem-solving coping appeared to exacerbate the relationship. Implications for clinicians and higher education are discussed.
Keywords: Anxiety; COVID-19; Coping strategies; Depression; Stress.
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2023, Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.