HEALTH-RELATED QUALITY OF LIFE (HRQOL) IN COLLEGE STUDENTS DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: EVALUATING THE EFFECTS OF FAMILY HEALTH INSURANCE STATUS, RACIAL IDENTITY, SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS (SES), AND TRUST IN GOVERNMENT

Everyday life has changed substantially for college students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Recent literature has highlighted disproportionate impacts of the pandemic on individuals of lower socioeconomic status (SES) and racial minority groups (Afridi & Block, 2020; Reeves & Rothwell, 2020). The present research studies explore how college students' socioeconomic status (SES), racial identity, and family health insurance status have affected their physical, psychological, social, environmental, and overall health-related quality of life (HRQOL) during the pandemic. This thesis utilized quantitative data from two data collection waves occurring at different time points during the pandemic with separate participant samples. Qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews with students were also conducted to explore in more detail how the pandemic has impacted students. Interaction effects between trust in government and family health insurance status, SES, and racial identity were assessed to evaluate trust in government as a moderator. All interactions were found to be nonsignificant, however, trust in government was revealed to be a significant covariate for the effects of family health insurance status and SES on the four domains of HRQOL. Additionally, profile analysis revealed significant differences in overall HRQOL and in psychological and environmental HRQOL when students were grouped on the basis of their reported family health insurance status. The qualitative analysis of the semi-structured interviews supported the quantitative findings and revealed that college students believing their health insurance satisfaction was negatively impacting their experiences of the pandemic described more intense anxiety and impairment to quality of life than their counterparts