Helping Students Make Meaningful Connections: A Cross-Sectional Survey of College Student Loneliness
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2024
Publication Title
American Journal of Health Education
Abstract
Background
Young adults are experiencing high levels of anxiety, depression, and loneliness. At colleges and universities across the United States, programs exist to address student mental health needs exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Purpose
Current levels of loneliness among students (n = 487) at a Midwest university were researched to compare with previous trends and develop clearer recommendations for purposeful interventions.
Methods
This study utilized a cross-sectional study design with the UCLA Loneliness Scale during the fall 2022 semester.
Results
Higher levels of loneliness were linked to the demographics of identifying as cis-males, non-binary, and/or students of color. Students who had greater than 4+ h of social media usage per week and first year students also displayed the highest levels of loneliness. Qualitative data from student participants highlighted the importance of having a peer attend events with them, familiarity of event structures, and expanding access to counseling services and mentorship programs.
Discussion
Intentional development of programs needs to be prioritized to address student loneliness on campus.
Translation to Health Education Practice
With the increase in loneliness across the United States, there exist opportunities for mentoring programs for struggling students and to build community to normalize the promotion of mental and emotional health resources.
Funding Source
This research project was funded by the Illinois State University Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Grant (FY 2022-23). This article was published Open Access thanks to a transformative agreement between Milner Library and Taylor & Francis.
DOI
10.1080/19325037.2024.2396586
Recommended Citation
Wodika, A., Lanier, J., Almeda, J., Richter, A., & Schalasky, G. (2024). Helping Students Make Meaningful Connections: A Cross-Sectional Survey of College Student Loneliness. American Journal of Health Education, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/19325037.2024.2396586
Comments
First published in American Journal of Health Education: https://doi.org/10.1080/19325037.2024.2396586
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.