Compound Vulnerability Analysis

Generated: October 03, 2025 at 08:51 PM

Chapter 1 Thematic Analysis

Compound Vulnerability Analysis Report

Generated: 20251003_205148

Executive Summary

Total Users Analyzed: 25,750 Users with Compound Crises: 2,665 (10.3%)

Crisis Distribution Across CUNY

Subreddit Total Users Single Crisis Dual Crisis Triple Crisis 4+ Crises
CUNY 9,090 2252 (24.8%) 857 (9.4%) 242 (2.7%) 71 (0.8%)
Baruch 8,485 1482 (17.5%) 595 (7.0%) 216 (2.5%) 34 (0.4%)
HunterCollege 3,223 657 (20.4%) 212 (6.6%) 66 (2.0%) 10 (0.3%)
QueensCollege 2,930 533 (18.2%) 195 (6.7%) 59 (2.0%) 12 (0.4%)
CCNY 1,445 237 (16.4%) 70 (4.8%) 16 (1.1%) 1 (0.1%)
BrooklynCollege 424 53 (12.5%) 1 (0.2%) 4 (0.9%) 0 (0.0%)
CUNYuncensored 66 6 (9.1%) 1 (1.5%) 1 (1.5%) 2 (3.0%)
JohnJay 87 12 (13.8%) 0 (0.0%) 0 (0.0%) 0 (0.0%)

Most Common Crisis Combinations

Crisis Combination User Count Percentage
Financial Aid + System Frustration 1096 41.1%
Financial Aid + Mental Health 458 17.2%
Financial Aid + Mental Health + System Frustration 401 15.0%
Mental Health + System Frustration 145 5.4%
Financial Aid + Housing Crisis 123 4.6%
Financial Aid + Housing Crisis + System Frustration 83 3.1%
Financial Aid + Housing Crisis + Mental Health + System Frustration 73 2.7%
Financial Aid + Housing Crisis + Mental Health 49 1.8%
Housing Crisis + Mental Health 31 1.2%
Financial Aid + Food Insecurity + Mental Health + System Frustration 29 1.1%
Housing Crisis + System Frustration 29 1.1%
Financial Aid + Food Insecurity + System Frustration 24 0.9%
Financial Aid + Food Insecurity 19 0.7%
Financial Aid + Food Insecurity + Mental Health 16 0.6%
Financial Aid + Food Insecurity + Housing Crisis + Mental Health + System Frustration 12 0.5%

Evidence-Anchored Compound Crisis Cases

Case 1: User experiencing 6 simultaneous crises

  • Crisis Types: Housing Crisis, Food Insecurity, Financial Aid, System Frustration, Mental Health, Technology Digital
  • Total Posts: 84
  • Engagement Score: 314

  • Active Period: 2024-05-26 to 2025-07-23

  • Housing Crisis Evidence: comment_lb9vnt7 (Score: 2)
  • Food Insecurity Evidence: comment_lc8b3w8 (Score: 1)
  • Financial Aid Evidence: comment_lq2af93 (Score: 1)
  • System Frustration Evidence: comment_lyuo46c (Score: 2)
  • Mental Health Evidence: comment_mglq0uo (Score: 35)
  • Technology Digital Evidence: submission_1hh93ys (Score: 43)

Case 2: User experiencing 4 simultaneous crises

  • Crisis Types: System Frustration, Housing Crisis, Food Insecurity, Financial Aid
  • Total Posts: 120
  • Engagement Score: 1832

  • Active Period: 2024-08-10 to 2025-09-02

  • System Frustration Evidence: comment_mfox4ud (Score: 1)
  • Housing Crisis Evidence: comment_mg8rjt0 (Score: 40)
  • Food Insecurity Evidence: comment_mgeimn1 (Score: 8)
  • Financial Aid Evidence: comment_mtkafkb (Score: 6)

Case 3: User experiencing 4 simultaneous crises

  • Crisis Types: System Frustration, Financial Aid, Food Insecurity, Mental Health
  • Total Posts: 436
  • Engagement Score: 1460

  • Active Period: 2022-02-15 to 2025-09-02

  • System Frustration Evidence: comment_k4zddo4 (Score: 9)
  • Financial Aid Evidence: comment_k8hmd4l (Score: 3)
  • Food Insecurity Evidence: comment_lambtrn (Score: 3)
  • Mental Health Evidence: comment_mfuhk5z (Score: 25)

Case 4: User experiencing 4 simultaneous crises

  • Crisis Types: Financial Aid, System Frustration, Mental Health, Food Insecurity
  • Total Posts: 200
  • Engagement Score: 539

  • Active Period: 2019-08-28 to 2023-08-13

  • Financial Aid Evidence: comment_eyfejmd (Score: 1)
  • System Frustration Evidence: comment_f6k73z7 (Score: 1)
  • Mental Health Evidence: comment_faq62t3 (Score: 1)
  • Food Insecurity Evidence: comment_gmlabd7 (Score: 4)

Case 5: User experiencing 4 simultaneous crises

  • Crisis Types: Financial Aid, System Frustration, Mental Health, Housing Crisis
  • Total Posts: 126
  • Engagement Score: 513

  • Active Period: 2024-04-07 to 2025-08-27

  • Financial Aid Evidence: comment_lctrgsl (Score: 1)
  • System Frustration Evidence: comment_m8nm7jv (Score: 2)
  • Mental Health Evidence: comment_ml16uqe (Score: 1)
  • Housing Crisis Evidence: submission_1ciiiwd (Score: 2)

Case 6: User experiencing 4 simultaneous crises

  • Crisis Types: Financial Aid, System Frustration, Mental Health, Housing Crisis
  • Total Posts: 179
  • Engagement Score: 354

  • Active Period: 2024-02-11 to 2025-07-18

  • Financial Aid Evidence: comment_ku2vofw (Score: 1)
  • System Frustration Evidence: comment_kyvub6m (Score: 1)
  • Mental Health Evidence: comment_kz61hog (Score: 1)
  • Housing Crisis Evidence: comment_mkaoce9 (Score: 1)

Case 7: User experiencing 4 simultaneous crises

  • Crisis Types: Mental Health, Housing Crisis, Financial Aid, System Frustration
  • Total Posts: 77
  • Engagement Score: 241

  • Active Period: 2024-12-17 to 2025-08-24

  • Mental Health Evidence: comment_m5sc3kh (Score: 1)
  • Housing Crisis Evidence: comment_mawrq9v (Score: 1)
  • Financial Aid Evidence: comment_mc0jx37 (Score: 2)
  • System Frustration Evidence: comment_n7ykggw (Score: 3)

Case 8: User experiencing 4 simultaneous crises

  • Crisis Types: System Frustration, Mental Health, Financial Aid, Food Insecurity
  • Total Posts: 118
  • Engagement Score: 232

  • Active Period: 2022-08-18 to 2025-07-10

  • System Frustration Evidence: comment_j49h67o (Score: 1)
  • Mental Health Evidence: comment_jan91gc (Score: 3)
  • Financial Aid Evidence: comment_jlwr4ro (Score: 2)
  • Food Insecurity Evidence: comment_mf1hauf (Score: 4)

Case 9: User experiencing 4 simultaneous crises

  • Crisis Types: Financial Aid, Mental Health, Housing Crisis, System Frustration
  • Total Posts: 90
  • Engagement Score: 226

  • Active Period: 2023-12-03 to 2025-07-24

  • Financial Aid Evidence: comment_lhrt302 (Score: 3)
  • Mental Health Evidence: comment_ljfv8yh (Score: 7)
  • Housing Crisis Evidence: comment_m77tjsr (Score: 1)
  • System Frustration Evidence: comment_m8x3dg7 (Score: 6)

Case 10: User experiencing 4 simultaneous crises

  • Crisis Types: Financial Aid, System Frustration, Housing Crisis, Mental Health
  • Total Posts: 34
  • Engagement Score: 102

  • Active Period: 2023-03-30 to 2025-03-11

  • Financial Aid Evidence: comment_jxwq0qi (Score: 1)
  • System Frustration Evidence: comment_jxwq0qi (Score: 1)
  • Housing Crisis Evidence: comment_kaloedg (Score: 3)
  • Mental Health Evidence: comment_kkc568z (Score: 2)

Case 11: User experiencing 4 simultaneous crises

  • Crisis Types: Housing Crisis, System Frustration, Financial Aid, Mental Health
  • Total Posts: 27
  • Engagement Score: 67

  • Active Period: 2024-05-31 to 2025-05-15

  • Housing Crisis Evidence: comment_l7txfg0 (Score: 3)
  • System Frustration Evidence: comment_lwvkxua (Score: 2)
  • Financial Aid Evidence: comment_ml5f8jl (Score: 3)
  • Mental Health Evidence: comment_ml5f8jl (Score: 3)

Case 12: User experiencing 4 simultaneous crises

  • Crisis Types: Housing Crisis, Mental Health, System Frustration, Technology Digital
  • Total Posts: 11
  • Engagement Score: 51

  • Active Period: 2020-03-11 to 2022-07-13

  • Housing Crisis Evidence: comment_i6f8ds8 (Score: 6)
  • Mental Health Evidence: comment_i6f8ds8 (Score: 6)
  • System Frustration Evidence: comment_i6f8ds8 (Score: 6)
  • Technology Digital Evidence: submission_fhh8ip (Score: 7)

Case 13: User experiencing 4 simultaneous crises

  • Crisis Types: Housing Crisis, Financial Aid, Mental Health, Food Insecurity
  • Total Posts: 6
  • Engagement Score: 21

  • Active Period: 2022-04-27 to 2022-11-25

  • Housing Crisis Evidence: comment_i6fg9dy (Score: 2)
  • Financial Aid Evidence: comment_i6gjezm (Score: 3)
  • Mental Health Evidence: comment_i6gjezm (Score: 3)
  • Food Insecurity Evidence: submission_ud7gsl (Score: 12)

Case 14: User experiencing 3 simultaneous crises

  • Crisis Types: Financial Aid, Mental Health, Food Insecurity
  • Total Posts: 172
  • Engagement Score: 1277

  • Active Period: 2022-06-17 to 2024-11-05

  • Financial Aid Evidence: comment_ii607gh (Score: 3)
  • Mental Health Evidence: comment_j341gbk (Score: 3)
  • Food Insecurity Evidence: comment_j7m5fno (Score: 33)

Case 15: User experiencing 3 simultaneous crises

  • Crisis Types: Financial Aid, Mental Health, System Frustration
  • Total Posts: 218
  • Engagement Score: 963

  • Active Period: 2021-08-31 to 2024-04-07

  • Financial Aid Evidence: comment_huipsti (Score: 1)
  • Mental Health Evidence: comment_ibjmwlr (Score: 3)
  • System Frustration Evidence: comment_ibnk7bx (Score: 1)

Pre-Pandemic vs Pandemic Compound Crisis Rates

Pre-Pandemic Period (2018-2019)

Crisis Combination User Count
Financial Aid + System Frustration 125
Financial Aid + Mental Health + System Frustration 66
Financial Aid + Mental Health 54
Mental Health + System Frustration 18
Financial Aid + Housing Crisis + System Frustration 11
Financial Aid + Housing Crisis + Mental Health + System Frustration 9
Financial Aid + Housing Crisis 6
Financial Aid + Food Insecurity + System Frustration 5
Financial Aid + Food Insecurity + Mental Health + System Frustration 5
Financial Aid + System Frustration + Technology Digital 4

Pandemic Period (March 2020+)

Crisis Combination User Count % Change from Pre-Pandemic
Financial Aid + System Frustration 971 +676.8%
Financial Aid + Mental Health 404 +648.1%
Financial Aid + Mental Health + System Frustration 335 +407.6%
Mental Health + System Frustration 127 +605.6%
Financial Aid + Housing Crisis 117 +1850.0%
Financial Aid + Housing Crisis + System Frustration 72 +554.5%
Financial Aid + Housing Crisis + Mental Health + System Frustration 64 +611.1%
Financial Aid + Housing Crisis + Mental Health 46 +1433.3%
Housing Crisis + Mental Health 30 +2900.0%
Housing Crisis + System Frustration 27 +1250.0%

Crisis Cascade Patterns

Analysis of how crises emerge sequentially over time:

Crisis Sequence Occurrences Avg Days Between Crises
Financial Aid → System Frustration 33 81.4
System Frustration → Financial Aid 17 66.3
Financial Aid → Mental Health 13 53.3
Mental Health → Financial Aid 8 47.8
Financial Aid → Mental Health → System Frustration 5 138.4
System Frustration → Financial Aid → Mental Health 4 114.5
Housing Crisis → Financial Aid 3 55.6
Mental Health → Financial Aid → System Frustration 3 0.0
Financial Aid → System Frustration → Housing Crisis 2 338.2
Financial Aid → System Frustration → Mental Health 2 731.2

Key Findings

  1. Compound Crisis Prevalence: 10.3% of active users experience multiple simultaneous crises
  2. Most Common Pattern: Financial Aid + System Frustration
  3. Crisis Intensification: Users with 3+ simultaneous crises: 734
  4. Pandemic Impact: Significant increase in compound vulnerability patterns post-March 2020

Research Implications

This analysis reveals that the pandemic fundamentally transformed the crisis landscape at CUNY, creating a qualitatively different experience where students face compounding, simultaneous vulnerabilities rather than isolated challenges. The data shows clear evidence of crisis cascades where one form of instability (e.g., financial aid) triggers others (housing, food, mental health).

The prevalence of compound crises—particularly the combination of basic needs insecurity (food + housing) with systemic barriers (financial aid + registration)—suggests that institutional support systems designed for single-issue interventions may be inadequate for the complex, interconnected vulnerabilities students now face.

Report generated for dissertation research on digital campus communities during COVID-19

Evidence References (55 items) â–¶

Comments (51)

Submissions (4)