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코로나19 상황 속에서 대학은 캠퍼스 폐쇄나 온라인 학습으로의 전환과 같은 유례없는 변화를 맞이하였다. 코로나19 사태 장기화로 사회적 고립감의 발생 가능성을 예상할 수 있으나, 사회적 고립감의 부정적인 영향력을 구체적으로 분석한 연구는 찾아보기 어려웠다. 본 연구는 코로나19 상황 속 대학에서 경험하는 사회적 고립감이 대학생과 대학원생에게 발휘하는 부정적인 영향력을 살펴보기 위해 수행되었다. 특히코로나19 상황 속 대학에서 경험하는 사회적 고립감이 학업지속의도에 미치는 영향과 학과소속감의 매개효과를 살펴보고, 온라인 학습을 통해 형성된 교수자를 향한 의사사회적 상호작용과 학과소속감의 관계를논의하였다. 연구문제와 가설을 분석하기 위해 국내의 대학에 재학 중인 대학(원)생을 대상으로 자기기입식 온라인 설문조사를 진행하였으며, 120명의 답변을 분석에 활용하였다. 연구결과, 코로나19 상황 속대학에서 경험하는 사회적 고립감은 학과소속감과 학업지속의도에 부적(-) 영향력을 발휘하였다. 사회적고립감이 학업지속의도에 미치는 영향에서 학과소속감은 매개 효과를 발휘하였는데, 학과소속감의 영향력을 통제하였을 때 사회적 고립감의 직접효과는 유의미하지 않았다. 이러한 결과는 코로나19 상황 속 대학에서 경험하는 사회적고립감은 학과소속감을 통해 학업지속의도에 부정적인 영향력을 발휘할 가능성을 시사한다. 반면, 온라인 학습을 통해 형성된 교수자를 향한 의사사회적 상호작용은 대학(원)생의 학과소속감에 정적(+) 영향력을 발휘하였다. 사회적고립감과 의사사회적 상호작용 간의 상관관계는 유의미하지않았으므로, 두 변인은 학과소속감에 독립적으로 영향력을 발휘하는 선행변인임을 확인할 수 있었다. 분석 결과를 바탕으로 코로나19 상황 속 대학에서 경험하는 사회적 고립감의 부정적인 영향력을 구체적으로 논의하였으며, 온라인 학습을 통해 형성된 교수자를 향한 의사사회적 상호작용은 대학(원)생의 학과소속감을 높이는 또 다른 방안이 될 수 있음을 논의하였다.
The universities in Korea have experienced unprecedented and radical changes, such as campus closure and expansion of online-classes, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many university students have experienced social isolation and a lack of social interactions on campus. There has been little research thoroughly analyzing the potential effects of social isolation on university students. Therefore, this present research aimed to examine the potential negative impact of social isolation on university students in the COVID-19 context. Particularly, this research analyzed how social isolation affected university students’ sesnses of departmental belonging and intentions of education continuance. In addition, this study focused on the effects of parasocial interaction with preferred instructors on university students as they have experienced interactions with those instructors through synchronous and asynchronous online classes. The main research model of this study included three major paths corresponding to the purposes of this research. The first path involves the negative effects of social isolation on departmental belonging and intention to continue education. The second path describes the mediation effect of departmental belonging in the relationship between social isolation and intention to continue education. The third path regards the positive effect of parasocial interaction with preferred instructors on students’ belonging to the department. The study collected self-report online surveys from 120 undergraduate and graduate school students. Data analysis found that university students' intention to continue education was negatively associated with social isolation. The mediation effect of belonging to the department was significant in the relationship between social isolation and intention to continue education. However, social isolation's direct effect was not significant when the effect of belonging to the department was controlled for. This result suggests that the effects of social isolation possibly exerted influence on intention to continue education by lowering one’s sense of departmental belonging. On the other hand, university students’ belongingness to the department increased as they had higher levels of parasocial interactions with preferred instructors. This present research proposed that parasocial interactions with preferred instructors and social isolation would be variables that could independently affect students’ belongingness to their department, considering the insignificant correlation between them. The study’s main results indicate that university students’ belongingness to their department and intention to continue education were negatively influenced by social isolation in the COVID-19 context. This implies that universities should take more efforts to reduce university students' social isolation. It was also meaningful that parasocial interactions through online classes could be an effective way of increasing students’ sense of belonging to their department. Lastly, this study suggests that one’s sense of departmental belonging, where students perceive themselves as valuable and suitable for the department organization, is a crucial factor in continuing education during the COVID-19 pandemic.
키워드열기/닫기 버튼
COVID-19, social isolation, parasocial interaction, department belonging, intention to continue education
