Changes in Student Well-Being during the First School Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic:  Impacts of School Closures and Learning Modality

Anhorn, Ciana Brynn

Changes in Student Well-Being during the First School Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Impacts of School Closures and Learning Modality

dc.contributor.advisor	Schwartz, Kelly Dean
dc.contributor.author	Anhorn, Ciana Brynn
dc.contributor.committeemember	Makarenko, Erica Marie
dc.contributor.committeemember	Sears, Christopher
dc.date	0024-11
dc.date.accessioned	2024-07-04T19:23:01Z
dc.date.available	2024-07-04T19:23:01Z
dc.date.issued	0024-07-03
dc.description.abstract	The COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted adolescents’ physical, social, and academic lives. Due to this, how adolescents’ well-being was impacted during the COVID-19 pandemic has been a top priority within research, but results produced have been inconsistent regarding the types of symptoms experienced and the severity. Therefore, the current study aims to answer how adolescent well-being (behavioural concerns and adaptive functioning) was impacted during the first school year of the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically during periods of school closures and in relation to learning modality. The current study used a longitudinal dataset from Alberta, Canada of participants aged 12 to 18, N = 911. At four timepoints between September 2020 and June 2021, students reported information on demographics and learning modality (in-person, virtual, and hybrid). Additionally, youth completed the Behaviour Intervention Monitoring Assessment System (BIMAS-2), a measure of behavioural concerns (negative affect, cognition/attention concerns, conduct behaviours) and adaptive functioning (social and academic functioning). Using LGM and RM MANCOVA/ANCOVA analyses, results indicated that from September 2020 to June 2021 negative affect and cognition/attention concerns increased, albeit scores continued to fall into a non-clinical range. Females endorsed higher rates of all behavioural concerns, and poorer social functioning. Further, students whose parents completed higher levels of education endorsed higher adaptive functioning. School closures had minimal impacts to well-being. Finally, learning modality was not associated with changes in behavioural concerns but receiving in-person education had some effects on social functioning and academic achievement. These results indicate that while there were some decreases in well-being, overall, youth were resilient. This information may be relevant to apply to short-term periods of online/hybrid learning and to use in cases where school closures are required.
dc.identifier.citation	Anhorn, C. B. (2024). Changes in student well-being during the first school year of the COVID-19 pandemic: impacts of school closures and learning modality (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/1880/119118
dc.language.iso	en
dc.publisher.faculty	Graduate Studies
dc.publisher.institution	University of Calgary
dc.rights	University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.
dc.subject.classification	Educational Psychology
dc.title	Changes in Student Well-Being during the First School Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Impacts of School Closures and Learning Modality
dc.type	master thesis
thesis.degree.discipline	Education Graduate Program – Educational Psychology
thesis.degree.grantor	University of Calgary
thesis.degree.name	Master of Science (MSc)
ucalgary.thesis.accesssetbystudent	I do not require a thesis withhold – my thesis will have open access and can be viewed and downloaded publicly as soon as possible.