Qualitative Study of Peer Relationships during Covid-19 Pandemic in Serbia: Students’ Perspective

Abstract

Although many studies addressed pandemic’s influence on youth well being related to the restricted contacts with peers, there is lack of data about students’ perception of diverse pandemic impacts on their social life. This research is aimed to identify various types of students’ experiences related to their relationship with peers in school and out of school context during COVID-19 pandemic. It is a part of broader qualitative study about schooling in Serbia in the time of pandemic including students of primary and secondary schools, their parents and teachers. Inductive thematic analysis was applied on students’ sample i.e., on the discussions of 27 focus groups from primary and secondary schools. Results show that negative experiences about social life during the pandemic prevail since 70% of coded segments (N = 260) belong to this broad category, while 21% represent positive and 9% neutral experiences. Social life was more affected in school context than in out of school, because students relate negative experiences more often to that context (153 coded segments) than to out of school (107 coded segments), while positive experiences are more often associated to out of school (59 coded segments) than to school context (20 coded segments). Negative experiences in school context are mostly described as longing for school mates due to lack of contacts during lockdown or measures in school (physical distance and division of a class into separate groups), and absence of school social events (excursions, school festivities, etc.). In an out of school context students missed going out with peers and complained about losing touch with them. Positive experiences in that context are dominantly related to socializing with peers despite measures against pandemic and to a lesser extent to online contacts via social networks. Positive experiences in school context students illustrate as a great joy being with school mates again when lockdown was over and insight about their importance. Neutral experiences are almost completely associated with out of school context, particularly with playing online games. Aforementioned major findings witness the large negative impact of pandemic on peer relations. Impressions of students from focus groups representing typical students’ population will be further related to the experiences of students from vulnerable groups having learning difficulties or coming from families with low income.