Student Stress and Its Impact on Learning During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Overview

In this project we use unique data collected in Spring 2020, Fall 2020, and Spring 2021 to determine how the learning of economics students was affected by perceived stress and how different groups of students experienced different kinds of stress. Our preliminary results show that stress related to living conditions and access to internet and technology was negatively associated with performance on end-of-term standardized assessments. We further find that female students, those not living in on-campus housing, and those receiving financial aid reported marginally greater stress related to living conditions, and first-generation students reported significantly higher amounts of this kind of stress. Underrepresented minority women, first-generation students, students receiving financial aid, and those not living in on-campus housing reported more stress related to internet and technology access.