Young adults’ experiences with loss and grief during COVID-19

Abstract

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, people are experiencing unprecedented cumulative loss and grief. Guided by life course theory, we used inductive qualitative analysis and explored young adults’ (N = 86) written accounts of their earliest and most significant losses associated with COVID-19, as well as their coping mechanisms. Overall, participants experienced substantial loss, especially losses related to their education and social life/events. We discuss five subthemes related to approaches to coping and five subthemes related to barriers to coping. Our findings are relevant to informing strategies that support adapting to significant loss in early adulthood, beyond the pandemic.