"Lived Experiences of Emerging Adults’ Transitioning Back to College Ca" by Aleesha Hayes

Date of Conferral

1-9-2025

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Psychology

Advisor

Michael Langlais

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic led to a worldwide shutdown as there were many uncertainties on how to prevent exposure. Emerging adults who were full time students were impacted in a variety of ways, both negatively and positively. There is substantial research on the impact that college students had when transitioning off college campuses. However, there is a lack of literature on the experiences that emerging adults had when transitioning back to college campus after COVID-19. This gap is important because multiple transitions have significant implications for development and well-being. To better understand this, a phenomenological qualitative study was conducted to explore the lived experiences of emerging adults when transitioning back to college campus after COVID-19. A purposeful and convenience sample of nine participants were recruited for in-depth semistructured interviews, ranging from 30-45 minutes, about their experiences, and an interpretative phenomenological analysis was utilized to gather themes. This research was grounded in Erikson’s psychosocial theory of development and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. There were five themes in the findings: participants experienced pedagogical challenges when returning to campus, participants experienced changes in how they interacted with others, participants experienced emotional changes as a result of returning to campus, participants experienced changes in their day-to-day life as a result of university and federal policies, and participants experienced changes in their college lifestyle when returning to campus. The findings of this study may be used to develop appropriate interventions and programs to address changes for college students at the end of a pandemic or other situations that would prompt college students to relocate.

Download

Share

 
COinS