Impact of COVID-19 Campus Closure on Undergraduates

Background The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in an abrupt transition from in-person to online learning in Spring 2020. Objective The purpose of this study was to identify the impact of the transition on undergraduates during the period following the campus closure. Method 131 psychology undergraduate students completed an online survey of how the COVID-19 closure had impacted their academics, online learning environment, and traumatic stress symptoms (using the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist for the DSM-5). Results Most participants reported increased academic difficulty compared to before closure. Approximately 30% reported elevated traumatic stress symptoms. Greater traumatic stress was associated with greater difficulty completing assignments, more limited access to the internet and quiet places to study, and greater sibling-care responsibilities. Conclusions The acute transition to online instruction posed academic and emotional challenges to many students, especially those from environments with competing demands or less access to academic supports. Follow-up evaluation is needed to determine whether these difficulties have persisted in subsequent semesters of online instruction. Teaching Implication Instructors should anticipate the emotional and academic needs of students who are relatively unfamiliar with online instruction and consider ways to minimize negative environmental impacts and increase access to mental health resources.

Life purpose and sibling care in adolescence: possible associations

The aim of this study was to investigate the possible relations between sibling care level and the areas of interest in adolescents’ life purposes. Participants were 113 adolescents. The instruments were a record of socio-demographic data, the household tasks and Sibling Care Questionnaire, and a written testimony on life purpose. We identified 347 life projects, which were grouped into the following categories: career, family, possessions, happiness, and generosity. The results of the Pearson’s correlations indicated positive associations between sibling care and generosity and career. Thus, there is a tendency that adolescents who take care of their younger siblings have more life projects related to assisting the family of origin and to professional development. These results suggest that taking care of younger siblings may influence the areas of interest of adolescents’ life purposes.

Molecular heterochrony and the evolution of sociality in bumblebees ( Bombus terrestris )

Sibling care is a hallmark of social insects, but its evolution remains challenging to explain at the molecular level. The hypothesis that sibling care evolved from ancestral maternal care in primitively eusocial insects has been elaborated to involve heterochronic changes in gene expression. This elaboration leads to the prediction that workers in these species will show patterns of gene expression more similar to foundress queens, who express maternal care behaviour, than to established queens engaged solely in reproductive behaviour. We tested this idea in bumblebees ( Bombus terrestris ) using a microarray platform with approximately 4500 genes. Unlike the wasp Polistes metricus , in which support for the above prediction has been obtained, we found that patterns of brain gene expression in foundress and queen bumblebees were more similar to each other than to workers. Comparisons of differentially expressed genes derived from this study and gene lists from microarray studies in Polistes and the honeybee Apis mellifera yielded a shared set of genes involved in the regulation of related social behaviours across independent eusocial lineages. Together, these results suggest that multiple independent evolutions of eusociality in the insects might have involved different evolutionary routes, but nevertheless involved some similarities at the molecular level.

Children's Sense of Loneliness and Social Dissatisfaction, After-School Care

The study examined the loneliness and social dissatisfaction of elementary school students in relation to type of after-school care. 358 students completed the Loneliness and Social Dissatisfaction Scale and an information form that included age and the students' after-school care arrangements. Results indicated that children who were in self or sibling care had greater loneliness and social dissatisfaction compared to their peers under formal center care.