We are sidekicks! Concretizing the antecedents and outcomes of communal coping in the COVID-19 crisis renewal

Abstract

Scholars have gradually shifted efforts to understand the COVID-19 crisis renewal stage. Viewing a gap in college communities' knowledge regarding COVID-19 renewal, this study drew upon the extended theoretical model of communal coping and explored college students' stressor coping in back-to-campus situations. Results of an online survey (N = 460) across nine US universities, first, supported the presence of communal coping in such a situation. Second, universities' transparent communication benefited students' communal coping appraisal, while online and offline bonding social capital boosted communal coping action; both the appraisal and action components positively contributed to student adaptivity, with life satisfaction being associated only with the action dimension. Theoretical and practical implications for interdisciplinary model concretization and public health crisis renewal are discussed.