Loneliness as a mediator for college students' social skills and experiences of depression and anxiety

Abstract

Introduction-Rates of anxiety and depression are increasing among college undergraduates. Existing research has demonstrated a link between social skills and mental health outcomes. This study explores the relationship between verbal social skills (encoding and decoding) and anxiety and depression by measuring the extent to which loneliness mediates these relationships. Methods-Baseline data from a cross-sequential study exploring college student mental health was used to analyze social skills, loneliness, as well as, depression and anxiety. A diverse group of students (n = 2,054; M = 19.95; SD = 1.26) participated from two residential colleges in the United States. Results-Six mediation models were estimated, separately testing whether loneliness mediated the relationship between anxiety and depression and social expressiveness, sensitivity, and control. All six found that (a) anxiety and depression were separately predicted by the verbal encoding skills of social expressivity and social control and the decoding skill of social sensitivity, and (b) all of those relationships were mediated by loneliness. These models accounted for 37-38% of the variability in scores of depression and 17-20% of the variability in scores of anxiety. Conclusions-The results of this study indicate verbal social skills play an important role in students experience of loneliness as well as depression and anxiety. Improving the social skills of students should be considered by colleges seeking to reduce the mental health burdens experienced by their students.

Trait Emotional Intelligence and School Burnout: The Mediating Role of Resilience and Academic Anxiety in High School

“…Specifically, in relation to academic anxiety, previous research has found that it is strongly predicted by students' self-regulation processes, which tend to be activated at the perception of challenging events [56]. Students with high anxiety levels are inclined to express worse evaluations of their social interactions compared to their low anxiety peers [57,58]. Overall, the results of this study support the status of trait emotional intelligence as a fundamental antecedent variable with a strong impact on students' school adjustment outcomes [24,59].…”

Gangguan Mental Emosional dan Kesepian pada Mahasiswa Baru

“…Ketika seseorang terus menerus memperhatikan hal negatif, maka hal ini memantik stres pada dirinya atau bahkan depresi (Wenzlaff & Bates, 1998). Kesepian berkaitan dengan gangguan mental emosional seperti depresi dan kecemasan pada mahasiswa baru (Brandy, Penckofer, Solari-Twadell & Velsor-Friedrich, 2015;Moeller & Seehuus, 2019). Penelitian di beberapa negara, seperti Inggris, Rusia, dan Swiss telah menyebutkan kesepian sebagai variabel yang berhubungan dan/atau menyebabkan munculnya gangguan mental emosional, seperti depresi, kecemasan, stres dan gangguan somatik (Richardson, Elliot, & Roberts, 2017;Rohrmann dkk., 2017;Stickley dkk., 2016).…”

Stressed-out, Self-isolated, and Hyper-connected: Teaching Today’s Learners

“…Their use of the internet is generally legitimate in that it helps them connect with friends, retrieve information, play games, and many other attractive, often necessary, activities. O'Donnell and Epstein (2019) wrote that today's students in the United States would almost prefer Internet connectivity than food because of the genuine need for friendships and connections as they transition to adulthood (Kim, Wang, & Oh, 2016;Moeller & Seehus, 2019). As college students, many courses require the use of Internet access for research, coursework completion, and occasionally course participation.…”