COVID-19 and Family and Peer Dynamics in Emerging Adults

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This is an interesting study with an important contribution that adds a broader understanding of young adults' experience of COVID, especially at the point in which much less was known about it. The design of study and research questions are well stated and addressed. However, there are several questions that came up that I think should be addressed. 

For instance, in the design the author(s) state the demographic of the study, and state that 22% of the respondents were self-Identify BILPOC. I think this is a big point of analysis that is not explored in the article. Much scholarship has detailed the severe impacts covid has had on communities of color. I would assume that the findings would tell us something interesting about the ethno-racial impacts of communication within families of color. 

Another point that needs clarity, in my opinion, is to say whether or not study participants were asked if they had a positive relationship with their parents/family members prior to covid. I think this would give the reader a sense of understanding if the researchers had a baseline about how communicative participants were with parents/family prior to when they were socially limited because policies enacted as a result of Covid. 

Structurally, I think the article would benefit by adding a brief paragraph before line 45 that helps guide the reader about the forthcoming sections of the articles. 

Author Response

Dear Reviewer 1,

Thank you for your positive assessment of our manuscript! We appreciate your feedback!

In considering your comments regarding demographics, we explored, in a series of t-tests, whether there were mean differences in some of our primary study variables based on the ethnic/racial background of participants.  There were no differences in terms of information seeking or effects on family relationships.  There did seem to be evidence that peer relationships were reported to be more negatively affected for students from minoritized backgrounds compared to White students, but we are hesitant to include this information given the (1) post-hoc nature of the test, and (2) the primary focus of the study was not designed to really capture such variation. We also noticed a regrettable error in our reporting such that our numbers for minoritized students were actually lower than reported (14% rather than 22%).  If the editors/reviewer prefer, we can certainly include some information about these differences.  For now, we highlight the need to examine similar research questions using more culturally diverse samples in future work.

In line 322, “14%” was added to address this change.

Further in lines 609-612 we added the following:

Given that the effects of COVID-19 have been found to be disproportionately negative for people of color, it would be important for future work with a more racially diverse sample to systematically investigate any differential effects [51, 52].

Thank you for your comments about a transition around line 45 (please note that manuscript edits have adjusted this line, so its placement is no longer at line 45; however, the reviewer’s comment notes an explicit reference to this location, in the original response), we added the following to lines 42-71:

Drawing on data from undergraduate students, the present study addresses these questions and aims to provide pertinent insight into how young adults navigated the pandemic within their social relationships. In the following sections of this article, we discuss how young adults might have communicated with their family and peers about critical issues regarding COVID-19, introduce our key research questions, and present and summarize our results.The investigation of these critical questions is especially salient among individuals who had to manage the pandemic while also undergoing life transitions, such as for students adjusting to college, exploring independence, and changing and maintaining their friend groups [4]. Considering the many practical ways in which young adults regularly interact with both peers and family members, this study has vast implications for better understanding how emerging adults coped, for months, with safety and health concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Thank you for your comment about study participants’ prior relationship with parents/family members prior to COVID. This is a good point; however, unfortunately, this information was not collected. We added a note about this issue in the Discussion (lines 618-626) as a topic for future research:

Further research should be conducted to assess the ongoing health and relationship implications of young adults to understand the possible lasting impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. In doing so, it would be important to consider prior relationship dynamics before the pandemic, to determine whether significant changes have occurred and how the nature of such changes might relate to other important factors in individuals’ lives. Such knowledge would be valuable in discerning ideal practices that can support young adults in times of unprecedented stress, speaking to feasible and effective means to disseminate information and garnering an overall more solid understanding of the wide impacts of a global pandemic.

Gratefully,

Authors

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

The title is clear and appropriate. It has an extension according to the editorial standards of the magazine.

The summary can be improved in terms of its wording and structure. It would be convenient to provide clearer elements regarding the method and the discussion generated from its findings.

The keywords are consistent with each other and coherent with the research problem.

The introduction and theoretical contextualization is adequate. As a suggestion, it would be desirable to incorporate more current elements regarding the implications of the pandemic on the relationships between parents and children, with a focus on emerging adults. Likewise, address theoretical elements related to the implications of the pandemic on the mental health of emerging adults.

Regarding the method, they must explain the type of sampling used (founding their methodological decision). In addition, they must represent, through a table, the selection criteria of the participants and how the sample was finally formed. On the other hand, it is not sufficiently clear how the survey used was constructed and validated. Furthermore, no precise technical elements are provided regarding the data analysis and interpretation procedure that the study followed. They mention the collection of quantitative and qualitative data, although in the end they present data in a very basic way. Nor do they declare elements related to the ethical criteria that guided the study.

The presentation of results is purely descriptive, using representative quotes, frequencies and percentages. Overall, the section is presented in a poor and superficial manner. There is no rigorous and in-depth analysis of the findings obtained. Requires structural review and improvement.

The discussion is constructed in a descriptive manner and with a limited review of the state of the art. The quality of the arguments addressed is poor. In its entirety, the section does not provide profound elements that account for the similarities, differences, tensions and reflections between the findings of the study with similar investigations. The section requires a review and structural improvement.

The limitations are basic. They can be improved in terms of writing and argumentative quality.

Likewise, it would be desirable to propose some projections that emerge from the study.

The bibliographic review used in the manuscript can be improved/updated.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer 2,

We appreciate your feedback regarding ways to improve our conceptual framing, analyses, and discussion of our results.  While we are limited by the data that were collected and the analyses we can conduct, we still maintain that the largely descriptive nature of our findings are interesting and important.  By revising our introduction, streamlining our results, and providing a deeper discussion of our study’s implications, we hope to have addressed your primary concerns about the manuscript and its readability. 

In terms of your more specific comments, we added the following to lines 6-12 to strengthen our summary/abstract:

The present study deepens understanding of the wide reach of the pandemic by using quantitative surveys and open-ended responses to explore how individuals discussed and reacted to COVID-19 and related health guidelines in the context of their family and peer relationships. Data were collected from 132 young adults in the U.S. (Mage = 18.9 years, SD = .85; 50% female, 14% ethnically-racially minoritized students) using standard procedures established by the university’s undergraduate research pool. Results

And the following to lines 16-18:

Qualitative data provide additional, detailed insight on how the pandemic shifted interpersonal dynamics and family and peer relationships.

“Net” was also added to line 15, for clarity, in describing the positive effects within family relationships.

Thank you for your positive feedback about the keywords.

Thank you for your comments regarding the method. The following was added to line 397 and 400:

Quantitative surveys and open-ended responses were collected. Due to the novelty of the empirical questions and lack of existing measures, all of the items in the current study were developed by the researchers and designed to be high in face validity.

Thank you for your comments about the limitations. The following was added to lines 608-614:

Thus, the results might not be fully reflective of broader populations and limited to the sample addressed. Given that the effects of COVID-19 have been found to be disproportionately negative for people of color, it would be important for future work with a more racially diverse sample to systematically investigate any differential effects [51, 52]. Responses were also limited by their self-report and retrospective nature, which may conflate certain responses to those most inclined to complete the survey, versus a more general audience.

Thank you for your suggestion to include more information on emerging adults and their mental health. To address this, the following was added to lines 110-190:

In addition, drawing on the more general parenting literature, given that youth are often financially dependent on their parents, they often turn to parental feedback for decision making around critical issue [14]. Job loss was a common concern amidst the pandemic, and thus, financial dependence and reliance on parents’ perspectives may have increased even further [15]. With all of the uncertainty around the pandemic, many emerging adults could have also viewed their parents as “competent guides”, viewing them as having more experience navigating serious situations and having to make future-oriented decisions in the past [16]. As such, considering the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic, and risk of COVID-19 infection, with life-altering and long-term health implications, the role of parents in decision making and information seeking was likely essential.

Additionally, the following was added to lines 209-214:

Among emerging adults, many of those who were living on college campuses were forced to move back home with their parents. As such, this presented a unique environment for some young adults in which mental health issues were negatively affected; however, for others, family provided an important support system, despite pandemic challenges [20]. Further, issues of mental health might be dependent on prior issues with mental health, leaving young adults more vulnerable. [21].

Also, the following was added to lines 235-239:

     Further, some have found that stronger social connections were forged with novel social identities, due to the pandemic [30]. However, other studies note that the pandemic’s effect on social situations generated increased feelings of loneliness and discomfort [31, 32]. Many also felt that virtual spaces did not satisfy their need for social interactions [33].     

Thank you for your comments about projections. The following was added to lines 558-560:

Future work should examine further implications for having similar or different beliefs around critical issues among young adults in college with respect to well-being and other outcomes.

Thank you for your comments about how the survey was constructed and validated, as well as ethical criteria to guide the study. We added more detail about the procedure and also a statement that all research activities were approved by our university’s IRB. 

Specifically, we added the following in lines 325-331.

Using convenience sampling and standard procedures for the university’s undergraduate psychology research pool, students signed up to participate through an online system. Students enrolled in an Introductory Psychology class read a brief description of the study and interested students were given a Qualtrics link where they provided online consent and completed questionnaires on their own personal computer in their own time. The surveys took approximately 10-15 minutes to complete. All procedures were approved by the university’s IRB.  

The bibliography was additionally updated to address your helpful comment.

Gratefully,

Authors

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Overall, it seems to me that the manuscript has been improved by integrating the various observations and suggestions raised in the first revision.