Adult Anxiety
Impact of friendships on generalized anxiety in gender-diverse college students during the COVID-19 pandemic
Rachel G. McDonald, M.S.
PhD Student
Montclair State University
Montclair, New Jersey
Erin McKenney, B.A.
PhD Student
Rowan University
Glassboro, New Jersey
Mary I. Cargill, B.A.
Doctoral Student
Montclair State University
Montclair, New Jersey
Jared K. Richards, B.S.
Research assistant
Rowan University
Moorestown, New Jersey
Talena C. Day, M.A.
PhD Student
Stony Brook University
Stony Brook, New York
Bella Kofner, B.S.
Masters/Graduate Student
College of Staten Island
Staten Island, New York
Kristen Gillespie-Lynch, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Psychology
College of Staten Island & The Graduate Center CUNY
Staten Island, New York
Matthew D. Lerner, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Stony Brook University
Stony Brook, New York
Katherine Gotham, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Rowan University
Glassboro, New Jersey
Erin Kang, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Montclair State University
Montclair, New Jersey
Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) effects approximately 2.3% of the adult population (Kessler et al., 2005), and approximately 26% of autistic adults (Hollocks et al., 2018). Some research suggests that gender-diverse individuals may experience more anxiety than their cisgender peers (Mahfouda et al., 2019; Thorne et al., 2018). Specifically, limited research has been conducted in this population during college where increased uncertainly around demands (e.g., school work) and environmental changes may result in more significant anxiety (Bailey et al., 2020). Previous research in both gender-diverse and autistic adults has shown a unique impact of friendship in mitigating GAD (Mazurek, 2013; Juvonen et al., 2022); however, specific effects of friendship on GAD has not yet been explored in autistic youth. Additionally, it is important to understand these effects in college students, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic when social circles may be significantly impacted, and other stressors may be increased. Therefore, we sought to examine the unique predictive impact of social support on GAD in gender diverse college students with and without ASD when transitioning from online to in-person instruction.
One hundred and two college students (Mage=19.95, SDage=4.43, Age range=18-43; Nonautistic=69; Autistic=33; 41% male, 13% non-binary, & 46% female) from four universities participated in a study assessing mental health during their first semester of college in 2021. Anxiety was measured using the GAD-7 (Spitzer et al., 1999), and the NIH Friendship Scale (Cyranowski et al., 2013) was used to measure friendship quality.
There were no differences in GAD or friendship quality between autistic and non-autistic groups (all p>.06); therefore, combined sample was used for further analyses. There were significant differences in GAD between genders (Fbaseline=7.9, p< .01; Fendpoint=4.4, p< .01): Women reported more GAD symptoms than men at baseline, and non-binary people reported more GAD symptoms at both baseline and endpoint compared to their cisgender peers (all p< .03). Higher-quality friendships at baseline predicted decreased GAD symptoms over the course of the semester (B=-.016, p=.02, R2=.60).
Results suggest that both nonautistic and autistic individuals who identify as gender minorities may experience more GAD both before and after their first semester of college. Encouragingly, quality of friendships relates to improvements of GAD across groups, which is consistent with previous research in gender diverse populations (Juvonen et al., 2022). Further, this provides a unique outlook on how developing friendships may be a specific treatment target for improving GAD in a collegiate context, such as when transitioning back to in-person instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic. Future research should consider how both in-person and virtual social skills group can improve friendship quality and social support for individuals who may enter college with increased risk for anxiety, including gender minority students.