Loneliness, college belongingness, subjective vitality, and psychological adjustment during coronavirus pandemic: Development of the College Belongingness

Abstract

Loneliness is a serious risk factor for healthy development and flourishing. Although loneliness has been revealed to play an important role in psychological health and well-being, little is known about moderating and mitigating mechanisms underlying this association, especially, during adverse experiences (e.g., coronavirus pandemic). The current study purposed to explore whether subjective vitality mediated the association of loneliness with psychological well-being (i.e., psychological adjustment), and whether college belongingness moderated the mediating effect of subjective vitality on students’ well-being in the context of loneliness. The sample of this study comprised of 333 undergraduate students (69% female) from a state university in Turkey. They ranged in age between 19 and 45 years (M= 22.13, SD= 4.55). Findings from mediation analysis revealed that loneliness had a significant predictive effect on subjective vitality and psychological adjustment challenges. Subjective vitality also mediated the effect of loneliness on psychological adjustment of college students. Further, college belongingness moderated the mediating effect of subjective vitality on adjustment and had a protective effect on the association between loneliness and subjective vitality in college students. These results provide evidence suggesting that college belongingness and subjective vitality are important mechanisms that may help to develop prevention and intervention strategies to foster psychological health and well-being of students at university settings

Do fear of COVID-19 and religious coping predict depression, anxiety, and stress among the Arab population during health crisis?

“…For example, positive religious coping is linked to lessened depression, anxiety, and spiritual struggle, and heightened psychological well-being (Koenig, 2018). Fear of COVID-19 has also been found to be associated with increased mental health challenges such as depression, anxiety, and stress in the context of the current pandemic (Taylor ., 2020;Yıldırım et al, 2020) and decreased life satisfaction or positive mental health (Satici et al, 2020). Beyond these primary results, it is also important to note that while negative religious coping significantly associated with anxiety, positive religious coping failed to contribute to the prediction of anxiety.…”

“…In times of COVID-19, researchers among various disciplines have burgeoning interest in the potential effects of religious coping for understanding and fostering mental health. Given the notion that religion is an important coping mechanism that people use in the face of adversity (Arslan, 2020;Burke & Arslan, 2020;Henrich et al, 2019), this trend is not surprising. According to coping theory, coping is defined as dynamic process of transaction between the individual and life situations as well as an active role that people play in apprizing and responding stressful situation (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984).…”

Coronavirus Anxiety and Psychological Adjustment in College Students: Exploring the Role of College Belongingness and Social Media Addiction

“…College belongingness was measured using the College Belongingness Questionnaire (CBQ; Arslan 2020a , b ), which is a 10-item self-report measure (e.g., “I feel like I belong at this university”) developed to assess the feelings of belongingness of Turkish university students. All items of the measure are scored using a 7-point Likert-type scale, ranging between 1= “strongly disagree” and 7 = “strongly agree.” After reversing five social exclusion items, total sense of belongingness scores are provided by summing item responses.…”

“…Cognitive-behavioral techniques could be useful for decreasing addictive behavior to social media. These strategies may contribute to modifying student thoughts, beliefs, and perceptions that can cause social media addiction (Arslan 2020a , b ). Collectively, the findings from the present research demonstrate the complex interlink between risk and protective factors in college students’ psychological adjustment and underscore the need for complex research design and methodology to better understand and promote optimal psychological health.…”

Student‐led field studies of herbivory: Hands‐on experiences for remote (or in‐person) learning

“…Field work forces students away from their desks, a welcome respite when so many courses and other activities are happening remotely. Being in nature has additional mental health benefits (Lackey et al, 2019) that, together with teamwork, can help to offset the isolation, anxiety, and depression that many college students are experiencing during the pandemic (Arslan, 2020; Zimmermann et al, 2020). With a little guidance, students are quite capable of doing independent field work toward a team project.…”