Loneliness and Psychological Distress: A Mediating Role of Meaning in Life during COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic represents a health crisis with a high amount of loneliness, which in turn may be associated with negative mental health outcome like psychological distress. This chapter aimed to investigate if meaning in life mediated the effect of loneliness on symptoms of psychological distress. A young adult sample (N = 605, 75.7% women) completed the measures of loneliness, psychological distress, and meaning in life. The results indicated that meaning in life mediated the relations between loneliness and psychological distress symptoms. This relation was significant at low, medium, and high levels of meaning in life. The study shows that experience of loneliness is associated with symptoms of psychological distress. Level of meaning in life differentiates the direct and indirect effect of loneliness on psychological distress. Knowledge about the effect of loneliness in response to a health crisis is important for developing treatment and prevention strategies for loneliness, psychological distress, and meaning in life.

Validation and utility of the Meaning in Life Measure for Turkish university students

“…The internal consistency reliability estimates for the overall measure and its subscales were high, suggesting that items on the overall MILM and its subscales are intended to assess the relevant construct by performing coherently showing that items on the experience and reflective meaning are internally related with each other. These findings are consistent with those of reported in the previous studies (Hill et al, 2019;Yıldırım, 2021).…”

“…To the best of our knowledge, the MILM has not yet been available in different cultures. Other than the original measure (Hill et al, 2019), some evidence regarding the factor structure of the measure has only been reported in Turkish culture by Yıldırım (2021). In that study, Yıldırım (2021) used a sample from the public ranging in age between 18 and 58 years.…”

“…Other than the original measure (Hill et al, 2019), some evidence regarding the factor structure of the measure has only been reported in Turkish culture by Yıldırım (2021). In that study, Yıldırım (2021) used a sample from the public ranging in age between 18 and 58 years. By using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, he reported that the MILM has a two-factor solution with high internal consistency reliability.…”

Mediating effect of work stress in the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and nurses' organizational and professional turnover intentions

“…The COVID-19 pandemic has precipitated numerous mental health problems both in the general public and nurses, such as high levels of anxiety, stress, general fear and fear of infection, despair, stigmatization, and isolation/loneliness, as well as physical symptoms, such as sleep disorders, headaches, malaise, and shortness of breath ( Gordon et al, 2021 ; Green & Yıldırım, 2022 ; Rehman et al, 2022 ; Yıldırım, 2021 ). Nurses who provide care for patients with COVID-19 suffer higher levels of mental and emotional problems ( Galehdar et al, 2020 ; Karimi et al, 2020 ).…”

Family Communication and Psychological Distress in the Era of COVID-19 Pandemic: Mediating Role of Coping

“…Pandemic-related stressors have caused many mental health problems including depression, anxiety and traumatic stress disorders ( Ozamiz, Santamaria, Gorrochategui, & Mondragon, 2020 ; Yıldırım & Özaslan, 2021 ). While close family members living together may develop stronger coping strategies to deal with pandemic-related stressors ( Salin, Kaittila, Hakovirta, & Anttila, 2020 ), those who are lonely for a long time during the pandemic may suffer from distress, extreme anxiety, loneliness, sorrow and pain ( Shanahan et al, 2020 ; Yıldırım, 2021 ; Yıldırım & Güler, 2021 ). As such, it is important that individuals hold effective coping strategies people benefit from to overcome from adversities, solve emotional dilemmas, improve psychological well-being and decrease the pressures that stressful conditions may cause ( Yıldırım & Maltby, 2021 ).…”