AUTHOR=Lv Xiaojing , Ma Juanjuan , Brinthaupt Thomas M. , Zhao Shaochun , Ren Xuezhu TITLE=Impacts of university lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic on college students’ academic achievement and critical thinking: A longitudinal study JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology VOLUME=Volume 13 - 2022 YEAR=2022 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.995784 DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2022.995784 ISSN=1664-1078 ABSTRACT=This paper examined college students’ changes of learning outcomes and clarified what might explain individual differences in students’ learning outcomes after they had learned from home for a whole semester when universities were physically closed due to the COVID-2019 pandemic. Data were derived from a longitudinal study examining students’ academic achievement and critical thinking (including both skills and dispositions) before and after the university lockdown. We observed significant decreases in critical thinking skills and dispositions from pre- to post-lockdown. Both perceived academic achievement and critical thinking exhibited greater variability after the lockdown. In addition, students’ readiness for online learning, especially their self-management skills, consistently predicted post-lockdown learning outcomes after pre-lockdown outcomes and family SES were controlled for. Those who have assumed more responsibilities at home, or who were more vulnerable to emotional distress during the pandemic, performed less well in post-lockdown learning outcomes.