Long-Term Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Emotional Regulation, Psychological Symptoms, and College Adjustment

The COVID-19 pandemic was responsible for an unprecedented increase in psychological problems among post-secondary students worldwide. Drawing on data from a repeated cross-sectional (RCS) project, this study investigated changes in psychological symptoms, emotional regulation (cognitive reappraisal and emotional suppression), and academic, social, and personal-emotional college adjustment, and associations between these variables among students in two countries during the phases of lockdown (2021), lifting of restrictions (2022), and the endemic phase (2023). University students in Canada (n = 1014) and Spain (n = 447) completed online surveys during these periods. Students in both countries reported significant declines in perceived COVID-19 stress across the pandemic phases. In comparison with pre-pandemic rates, elevated psychological symptoms remained constant. There were some country differences, but sex differences were consistent. Psychological symptoms mediated the association between cognitive reappraisal and the adjustment measures among Canadian students during each pandemic period. Alternatively, they mediated the linkages of maladaptive emotional suppression with academic, social, and personal-emotional functioning of Spanish students at every phase, but only during the lifting of restrictions and the endemic phase for Canadian students. The results indicate the complexity of country and context in the role of emotional regulation during uncontrollable conditions and provide directions for intervention in stressful situations, including adjustment to university and future disastrous environmental events.