EVOLUTION OF ACADEMIC ENGAGEMENT, ANXIETY AND BENEFIT FINDING AMONG CHINESE COLLEGE STUDENTS DURING THE COVID-19 PERIOD

Abstract

This study explores the dynamic changes and relationships among anxiety, benefit finding (BF), and academic engagement at different stages of COVID-19 in China. A longitudinal survey was conducted on 301 college students at different time points in cities where COVID-19 broke out locally and 257 valid paired questionnaires were collected after quality control. An online questionnaire composed of the revised Benefit Finding Scale, Student Version of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, and Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale was conducted. The findings revealed that academic engagement was negatively correlated with anxiety and positively correlated with BF in the outbreak and stable stages of COVID-19. There were significant differences in academic engagement among three stages: before the outbreak, in the outbreak, and in the stable stages of COVID-19. Specifically, academic engagement exhibited a development trend, initially decreasing in the outbreak stage and then showing a slight increase in the stable stage of COVID-19, as students gradually reestablished their academic engagement. In addition, anxiety decreased while BF increased in the stable stage of COVID-19 in comparison to the outbreak stage. Hence, the fight against COVID-19 is an excellent opportunity to enhance the meaning of students’ lives. Although the learning status of college students is gradually recovering, it still requires time and appropriate intervention to fully restore their learning state to its pre-epidemic level. Therefore, the government should intensify efforts to control misinformation, while schools should seize the opportunity to implement gratitude education. Furthermore, students are encouraged to enhance their psychological resilience to address challenges and restore academic order.