Nikki Trippler
Major/Minor: Strategic & Corporate Communication and Theatre Studies
Title: College Students' Friendships and Communication during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Abstract: The purpose of this research is to uncover the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic affected college students' experiences in developing and maintaining friendships. Specifically, the modes of communication used to maintain friendships (e.g., virtual, face-to-face) were analyzed for their association with college students' relational and personal outcomes. To understand this phenomenon, one-on-one online in-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with individuals who had taken at least one college course in the past year. Participants were recruited using network and convenience sampling methods. Participation was voluntary and confidential, and participants were given the opportunity to enter a raffle to win one of five $20 Amazon gift cards. The majority of participants identified as female (66.7%) and White (33.3%) and represented a range of academic years and majors. A total of twelve one-hour interviews were conducted, producing 260 pages of interview transcripts. Throughout the data collection process, data was analyzed using the phronetic iterative approach (Tracy, 2018), which emphasizes both emic (from the data) and etic (informed by existing theory and research) understandings. Results indicate that two themes existed among college student experiences: Proximity and Self Concept. These ideas explain whether participants maintained existing friendships or sought new connections during the pandemic. Participants also shared the impact of the pandemic on their mental health and academic outcomes. A future direction for this research is to analyze the effects of the pandemic on first-year students in particular, as many of the participants in this study were upper-level students. Potential limitations of this research include social desirability bias, sampling bias, and a small sample size. This study provides initial insight into the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic affected college students' communication and relationships.
