Five years ago, the world changed forever.
As the fifth anniversary of the COVID-19 shutdown rounds the corner, Pepperdine professors and students are reflecting on the shutdown’s lingering impact on the lives of college students.
First-year Sophie Rodgers said she was 14 at the height of the shutdown and those abnormal years of development had lasting effects.
“We missed a lot of super important social cues and developments that will linger with us for the rest of our lives,” Rogers said.
The Lingering Impact: The Need for Connection
Professor of Psychology Steve Rouse said this generation of college students was already displaying increases in mental illness pre-pandemic and the shutdown made it even more prevalent.
“This hit a group of students who were especially vulnerable in a vulnerable stage of life,” Rouse said.
Before the start of the pandemic, about 36% of college students were experiencing mental illness, according to Best Colleges. That percentage has now jumped to 60% of college students who report a variety of mental illnesses, including anxiety, depression and general feelings of loneliness, according to the American Psychiatry Association.
Through qualitative and quantitative analysis, researchers found that isolation was one of the largest contributing factors to the mental health crisis among college students, according to the National Library of Medicine.
Professor of Psychology Michael Folkerts has studied the inner workings of the brain and said humans don’t adapt well to quarantine.
“The brain and body were not built for isolation,” Folkerts said. “We are social creatures and in isolation, a lot of bad things can happen.”
Folkerts said the symptoms of poor mental health were likely manifested through the isolation the COVID-19 shutdown presented and the absence of being able to socialize and seek community at a time when they needed it most.
“It obviously was a generational, traumatic event,” Folkerts said. “But many people stopped doing what was good for them.”
The isolation not only led to an insufficiency of human interaction, but it also affected the physical and cognitive activity of students. The lack of these led to the spike in mental health concerns, Folkerts said.
Rogers said the times of isolation during the COVID-19 shutdown had a major effect on her mental health at the moment and those consequences continue to manifest today.
“I think that isolation is something that everyone today still struggles with,” Rogers said. “And emotional isolation doesn’t just go away.”
In a time where we needed to lean on each other most, Rouse said society was unable to do so, and that alone disrupts human nature.
“It’s part of human nature to be around people,” Rouse said. “That is put into all of us.”
Rogers said her lack of social interaction during the COVID shutdown continues to affect how she communicates and socializes with her peers.
“The lack of socialization I had when I was 14 is something that still causes riffs in my social life,” Rogers said.
From the Classroom to the Screen
Many college students experience the effects of academic stress, but Rogers said it is much harder to handle over a computer screen.
Rogers said the U.S. school system is designed to help students reach their full potential, but nearly two years were taken away from her and she feels the consequences.
“If you’re not developed exactly how it’s supposed to go with the school system, it can create little holes in your mental health,” Rogers said.
Rouse said he has seen a higher level of burnout and exhaustion in his college students now more than ever before.
“There’s very clear evidence that students got really burnt out by doing the school experience,” Rouse said. “Especially if they were doing it online, and to still have years of education ahead of them, it’s exhausting for a lot of students.”
Folkerts said students were not only missing in-person schooling, but their entire lives were disrupted, leading to significant and long-lasting effects on mental health and academic success.
“This included periods of significant stress and anxiety,” Folkerts said. “And now they’re being asked to learn new material in school while also making up for pandemic-related learning gaps.”
Moving On Together
High school graduation, prom, the first day of high school — Rouse said it will take a lot of time to mourn these right-of-passages that current college students missed out on, but it’s the first step of the process of moving on.
“Many people lost the experience to have really critical comments in their life that define important turning points in adolescence and early adulthood,” Rouse said.
Rogers said she never got a “real” first day of high school and she had to miss out on that significant milestone, as well as nearly the entirety of her first year of high school.
“You can’t just miss those two years like that,” Rogers said. “It felt like the most developmental years to miss.”
Rouse said the process won’t be easy, but it is necessary to grow into a community together and share individual experiences and losses.
“One of the things that will be hard to ever bounce back from is the recognition of important experiences that were lost,” Rouse said.
Folkerts said there is good news for this upcoming season.
“These gaps can be closed by entering into a post-pandemic world where we can socialize and develop,” Folkerts said.
It wasn’t only students who struggled with the COVID-19 shutdown — the faculty and staff felt its effects as well Rouse said.
Rouse said the most important skill we can utilize in this time is empathy and learning how to walk in this time of healing together in a time where we can socialize freely.
“It brings a need for a lot of grace and a lot of patience with each other and patience with ourselves,” Rouse said.
At the end of the day, humans are made to be resilient.
“Humans are amazingly resilient,” Rouse said. “We have the ability to bounce back from even really, really horrible situations.”
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Contact Haylie Ross via email: haylie.ross@pepperdine.edu
