College student accounts of coping and social support during COVID-19 impacted learning

ABSTRACT This study explores how coping and social support assist students in managing communication stressors with two key academic groups─instructors and classmates─during COVID-19. Undergraduates (N = 70) provided open-ended responses of how they cope with stressful interactions. Grounded, iterative analysis reveals two themes. First, students use problem-focused coping by seeking informational and instrumental support from peers and instructors as well as acting independently to help themselves. These actions directly manage stress. Second, students use emotion-focused coping by seeking emotional support from peers and family members as well as engaging in self-soothing. These behaviors ease distressful feelings. Aligning with the research literature, findings show that emotional support improves stress appraisal and buffers students from stress whereas informational and instrumental support provides students with adaptive coping. Study results add new insights regarding the importance of seeking peer support to help manage COVID-19-related communication stress. Recommendations are offered for instructors teaching online as COVID-19 evolves.