Journal of College & University Student Housing Volume 48, No. 1 - 18

Working in Residence Life During a Pandemic
life work responsibilities jeopardized their
health. Almost half (48%) believed that their
residence life work responsibilities also jeopardized
the health of their loved ones. Most
participants (70.5%), however, felt supported
by their supervisor during the pandemic.
Regarding confidence in departmental and
institutional leadership's ability to manage
the crisis, more than half (57.1%) reported
confidence in departmental leadership and a
little less than half (48.6%) in institutional
leadership.
Social-Psychological Well-Being
The analysis of the entire sample using
paired samples t-tests indicated that there
was a significant difference in respondents'
FS scores before the pandemic (M = 49.51,
SD = 4.439), as reported in retrospect, compared
to during the pandemic, as measured
in late October/early November (M = 41.39,
SD = 8.798), t(106) = 10.44, p < .001. Overall,
respondents reported that their social-psychological
well-being was significantly lower
during the pandemic than it had been before.
Analysis of the change in FS scores by
various demographic groups indicated that
each of the groups experienced a statistically
significant decrease in social-psychological
well-being during the pandemic (see Table 3
for pre-pandemic and pandemic FS scores
as well as mean differences by demographic
groups). Both cisgender men and women experienced
a statistically significant decrease
in social-psychological well-being. For race
and ethnicity, White participants reported a
statistically significant decrease in social-psychological
well-being. Racial and ethnic subgroups
other than White were too small for
meaningful quantitative data analysis. However,
once grouped into one category for all
BIPOC respondents (all non-White participants),
there was a statistically significant
18 The Journal of College and University Student Housing
difference in respondents' FS scores before
the pandemic compared to during the pandemic.
Respondents whose highest level of
education was a Bachelor's or a Master's
degree experienced a statistically significant
decrease in social-psychological well-being.
The difference was not statistically significant
for individuals with a doctoral degree;
however, this lack of significance may be due
to the small sample size (n = 7). Entry-level
staff, mid-level managers, and senior leadership
experienced a statistically significant
decrease in social-psychological well-being.
Similarly, individuals in the four categories
of housing arrangement (on campus alone;
on campus with family, a partner or spouse,
and/or dependents; off campus alone; and
off campus with family, a partner or spouse,
and/or dependents) experienced a statistically
significant decrease in their social-psychological
well-being.
Comparisons by demographics. One-way
ANOVAs provided insights into group mean
differences in FS scores at different time
points (pre-pandemic, during the pandemic)
and in the change in FS scores from before
to during the pandemic to get a sense
of differences (or lack thereof) in the socialpsychological
well-being of respondents by
demographics.
Regarding gender, while there were no
statistically significant differences before
the pandemic, there was a statistically significant
difference between group means
for FS scores during the pandemic as determined
by a one-way ANOVA (F(1, 94) = 4.270,
p = .042). During the pandemic, cisgender
women reported significantly lower social
psychological well-being than did cisgender
men (M = 40.29, SD = 8.496 vs. M = 44.06,
SD = 8.511, respectively). There was also a
statistically significant difference between
Journal of College & University Student Housing Volume 48, No. 1

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Journal of College & University Student Housing Volume 48, No. 1
