University students’ thriving during remote and in-person instruction in the COVID-19 pandemic: longitudinal evidence from two academic years

Introduction: A substantial body of research has demonstrated the negative repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic on university students' mental health and well-being. Less is known about students' thriving, defined as a specific sense of personal growth encompassing experiences of vitality and learning. Methods: = 431) from a large public university in Germany, we examined how students' thriving developed over the course of two academic years, including five time points from June/July 2020 to February 2022, during which remote instruction (T1-T3), in-person instruction (T4) and again remote instruction (T5) were carried out. To capture intraindividual change, we used two neighbor change models, a subtype of latent change score (LCS) models. Results: During the period of remote instruction, we found intraindividual decreases in students' thriving toward T2 in winter 2020/2021. When universities had resumed in-person instruction in winter 2021/2022 (T4), we found intraindividual increases in students' vitality and learning. Intraindividual changes in thriving toward all later time points did not differ by gender or by college generation status. Discussion: We discuss our findings against the background of the study-related stressors that students faced during remote and in-person instruction, as well as the instructional measures implemented by the respective university over the course of the pandemic.