College Students’ Perceptions of Problematic Childhood Family Environments Change Across the COVID-19 Onset

While debate persists over the accuracy of retrospective self-reports of childhood family environments, empirical understanding of the stability of these assessments among young adults during stressful events remains limited. In response, this study examined whether college students’ perceptions of problematic childhood family environments changed across the COVID-19 onset. We leveraged a longitudinal dataset of 355 college students (237 female, Mage = 19.4 years, SD = 0.70; 118 male, Mage = 19.6 years, SD = 0.70), oversampled for recent substance misuse. Participants completed assessments over five to seven timepoints; the pandemic onset (13 March 2020) occurred near the midpoint of data collection. We employed piecewise growth-curve modeling (PGCM) to evaluate pandemic-onset-related changes in participants’ perceptions of problematic childhood family environments and the moderating effect of family co-residence during the acute pandemic onset. Results indicated that college students’ perceptions of problematic childhood family environments significantly but modestly increased from pre- to post-pandemic onset. Living with family during the acute disruption period did not moderate this change. In conclusion, stressful events like the COVID-19 outbreak could serve as a pivotal event associated with increased problematic perceptions of childhood family environments among young adults. We reinforce the necessity of adopting rigorous longitudinal, repeated-measures designs for retrospective assessments in family sciences. Additional conceptual and theoretical, methodological, and practical implications were discussed.