Department of Education, Brown University, Box 1938, Providence, RI, 02912, USA.
Department of Anthropology, Brown University, Box 1921, Providence, RI, 02912, USA.
Cult Med Psychiatry. 2024 Mar;48(1):91-112. doi: 10.1007/s11013-023-09833-5. Epub 2023 Sep 28.
The Covid-19 pandemic has greatly disrupted the education of first-generation college students (first-gens)-those whose parents did not complete a college degree. With campuses closed, activities canceled, and support services curtailed, many first-gens have increasingly relied on their parents for mental, emotional, and logistical support. At the same time, their parents face compounding stresses and challenges stemming from the prolonged effects of the Covid pandemic. We examined the role that relational dynamics between first-gens and their parents played in how they weathered the first 2 years of the Covid pandemic together. We draw upon journals submitted by self-identified first-gens and parents of first-gens to the Pandemic Journaling Project between October 2021 and May 2022 as part of a pilot study of first-gen family experiences of Covid-19, along with a series of interviews conducted with three student-parent dyads. We argue that what we term the micropractices of care-the "little things," like a kind word, small gift, or car ride, that were regularly exchanged between parents and students-played a key role in mental wellness and educational persistence. We find that when there is synchrony between practices offered by one dyad member and their reception by the other, mental wellbeing is preserved. When there is asynchrony, mental health is destabilized. These findings reflect the strategies on which first-gen families have creatively relied to maintain shared mental wellness and student success during a time of crisis. We show how everyday mental wellness is forged in the intersubjective space between two people engaged in achieving shared life goals.
Covid-19 大流行极大地扰乱了第一代大学生（第一代大学生）的教育，这些学生的父母没有完成大学学位。随着校园关闭、活动取消和支持服务减少，许多第一代大学生越来越依赖父母提供心理、情感和后勤支持。与此同时，他们的父母面临着因 Covid 大流行长期影响而加剧的压力和挑战。我们研究了第一代大学生和他们的父母之间的关系动态在他们共同度过 Covid 大流行的头两年中所起的作用。我们借鉴了 2021 年 10 月至 2022 年 5 月期间，自我认同为第一代大学生和第一代大学生父母在大流行日记项目中提交的日记，作为对第一代大学生家庭经历 Covid-19 的试点研究的一部分，以及对三个学生-家长二人组进行的一系列采访。我们认为，我们称之为关怀的微观实践——“小事情”，比如一句亲切的话、一份小礼物或一次搭车，这些都是父母和学生之间定期交流的，在心理健康和教育坚持方面发挥了关键作用。我们发现，当一个二人组的成员提供的实践与另一个成员的接受之间存在同步性时，心理健康就会得到保持。当存在不同步时，心理健康就会不稳定。这些发现反映了第一代大学生家庭在危机时期为保持共同心理健康和学生成功而创造性地依赖的策略。我们展示了在两个人共同实现共同生活目标的主体间空间中，如何在日常生活中建立心理健康。
