Family Adversity, Perception of Neighborhood, and Victimization by Community predict Positive and Negative outcomes among Emerging Adults affected by COVID-19

Emerging adulthood is the transitional stage from adolescence to adulthood, which poses numerous challenges to attaining developmental tasks like establishing intimate relationships, exploring possibilities, preparing for a career, and the like. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated these challenges further. The present study aimed to examine positive and negative outcomes associated with family adversity, perception of neighborhood, and victimization by community among emerging adults who had a personal experience with COVID-19. Aconvenient sample of 206 emerging adults, both males and females, in the age group 18-29 years was used for this study. The participants completed self-report measures of family adversity, perception of the neighborhood, victimization by the community, life satisfaction, well-being, depression, and delinquency. One-way ANOVA and multiple regression analyses were used to analyze the data. The results revealed that the males have a more positive perception of the neighborhood than females. Females experienced low well-being as compared to males. Family adversity negatively predicted well-being and positively predicted depression. Perception of neighborhood positively predicted well-being and life satisfaction, whereas victimization by community positively predicted depression and delinquency. The implications of the study for future research, practice, and policy are discussed in detail.