COVID on Campus: Assessing the Impact of the Pandemic on Undocumented College Students
Published by Laura E. Enriquez, William E. Rosales, Karina Chavarria, Martha Morales Hernandez, and Mercedes Valadez in AERA Open
Enriquez and colleagues examine the initial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on undocumented college students. Qualitative findings show that immigration status exacerbated the negative economic effects of the pandemic, leading to severe financial strains that had cascading negative effects on undocumented students’ academics and health. Regression analyses of survey data confirm the strong association between students’ preexisting economic insecurity and negative effects of the pandemic. Legal vulnerability and family strains moderated this relationship, but campus environment had little effect.
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Physical and Mental Health Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic among College Students who are Undocumented or have Undocumented Parents
Published by Annie Ro, Victoria E. Rodriguez, and Laura E. Enriquez in BMC Public Health
Ro and colleagues estimated the odds of mental or physical health being affected “a great deal” by COVID by immigration group and then examined whether this was moderated by campus belonging or resource use. U.S. citizen students with undocumented parents were least likely to report COVID-related mental and physical health effects. Undocumented students and U.S. citizen students whose parents have lawful immigration status did not differ in their COVID-related physical and mental health. For all students, more campus resource use and higher campus belonging were associated with negative mental and physical health effects.
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Mental Health and COVID-19 Pandemic Stressors among Latina/o/x College Students with Varying Self and Parental Immigration Status
Published by Laura E. Enriquez, Alberto E. Morales, Victoria E. Rodriguez, Karina Chavarria, and Annie Ro in the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities
Enriquez and colleagues examined whether and how self and parental immigration status contributed to Latina/o/x college students’ mental health and pandemic stressors during the initial months of the pandemic. Quantitative analyses revealed that the pandemic produced widespread negative mental health effects but the severity of these effects did not differ by self/parental immigration status. Qualitative analyses suggest that the high-stress nature of the pandemic elevated mental distress across all student groups, but the structural exclusion of undocumented immigrants contributed to unique experiences of stress among Latina/o/x undocumented students and U.S. citizen students with undocumented parents when compared to U.S. citizen students with lawfully present parents.
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