Psychological correlates of perceived loneliness in college students before and during the COVID-19 stay-at-home period: a longitudinal study

Conti, Chiara; Lanzara, Roberta; Rosa, Ilenia; Müller, Markus; Porcelli, Piero

doi:10.1186/s40359-023-01099-1

“…Finally, several nonadaptive personality traits including negative affectivity and detachment were related to higher levels of depression, anxiety, and stress during the COVID-19 pandemic [10,32].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Changes in hospital staff’ mental health during the Covid-19 pandemic: longitudinal results from the international COPE-CORONA study

Lanzara

¹

,

Conti

²

,

Rosa

³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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This longitudinal study aimed to explore anxiety and depressive symptoms, individual resources, and job demands in a multi-country sample of 612 healthcare workers (HCWs) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Two online surveys were distributed to HCWs in seven countries (Germany, Andorra, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Romania, Iran) during the first (May-October 2020, T1) and the second (February-April 2021, T2) phase of the pandemic, assessing sociodemographic characteristics, contact with COVID-19 patients, anxiety and depressive symptoms, self-compassion, sense of coherence, social support, risk perception, and health and safety at the workplace. HCWs reported a significant increase in depressive and anxiety symptoms. HCWs with high depressive or anxiety symptoms at T1 and T2 reported a history of mental illness and lower self-compassion and sense of coherence over time. Risk perception, self-compassion, sense of coherence, and social support were strong independent predictors of depressive and anxiety symptoms at T2, even after controlling for baseline depressive or anxiety symptoms and sociodemographic variables. These findings pointed out that HCWs during the COVID-19 outbreak experienced a high burden of psychological distress. The mental health and resilience of HCWs should be supported during disease outbreaks by instituting workplace interventions for psychological support.

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“…Finally, several nonadaptive personality traits including negative affectivity and detachment were related to higher levels of depression, anxiety, and stress during the COVID-19 pandemic [10,37].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Changes in hospital staff’ mental health during the Covid‑19 pandemic: Longitudinal results from the international COPE-CORONA study

Lanzara,

Conti,

Rosa

et al. 2023

PLoS ONE

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This longitudinal study aimed to explore anxiety and depressive symptoms, individual resources, and job demands in a multi-country sample of 612 healthcare workers (HCWs) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Two online surveys were distributed to HCWs in seven countries (Germany, Andorra, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Romania, Iran) during the first (May-October 2020, T1) and the second (February-April 2021, T2) phase of the pandemic, assessing sociodemographic characteristics, contact with COVID-19 patients, anxiety and depressive symptoms, self-compassion, sense of coherence, social support, risk perception, and health and safety at the workplace. HCWs reported a significant increase in depressive and anxiety symptoms. HCWs with high depressive or anxiety symptoms at T1 and T2 reported a history of mental illness and lower self-compassion and sense of coherence over time. Risk perception, self-compassion, sense of coherence, and social support were strong independent predictors of depressive and anxiety symptoms at T2, even after controlling for baseline depressive or anxiety symptoms and sociodemographic variables. These findings pointed out that HCWs during the COVID-19 outbreak experienced a high burden of psychological distress. The mental health and resilience of HCWs should be supported during disease outbreaks by instituting workplace interventions for psychological support.

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“…Notably, loneliness has been associated with education and memory complaints [8]. University students, in particular, have been the focus of loneliness research for decades [9][10][11][12]. Studies have indicated that over 35% of university students experience loneliness, which is positively correlated with depression and anxiety [13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Loneliness Among University Students: A Cross-Sectional Study in Jordan

Tadros,

Arabiyat,

Jaber

et al. 2023

Cureus

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Introduction: Loneliness is characterized by a sense of melancholy, emptiness, and despair, as well as a higher risk of both psychological and physical problems. Numerous post-coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) sequela, both physically and mentally, have been caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic that has affected many people. Memory issues and loneliness were found to be uniquely correlated. The purpose of this study was to evaluate how the COVID-19 epidemic affected the levels of loneliness among Jordanian university students. Methods: This is a cross-sectional questionnaire-based study. Google Forms were used for data collection, utilizing a three-item loneliness scale developed by the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), United States, which accounts for the following items: (1) how often does the participant feel about lacking companionship, (2) how often does the participant feel being left out, and (3) how often does the participant feel isolated from others. Each item was marked for three frequency levels of experience: (1) hardly ever, (2) some of the time, and (3) often. Responses to the three loneliness questions were graded on a scale of 3-9, with scores between 3 and 5 indicating "not lonely" and scores between 6 and 9 indicating "lonely." Results: The study included 802 participating students. Specifically, 75.4% of the participants were females, 58% were aged 20-25, and 39% were 17-19. In addition, 37% were from the capital city, while 28% lived in the middle area. Seventy nine percent were from public universities, and 74% were studying in their second year. According to UCLA's three-item loneliness scale, 411 (51.2%) participants were lonely, while 391 (48.8%) participants were not feeling lonely. According to direct question answers, 576 (71.8%) participants were lonely, and 226 (28.2%) were not lonely. Conclusion: The study concluded that the frequency of loneliness was high among Jordanian university students. However, both genders experienced equal levels of loneliness, while younger participants felt more lonely than older ones.

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Psychological correlates of perceived loneliness in college students before and during the COVID-19 stay-at-home period: a longitudinal study

Cited by 6 publications

References 100 publications

Changes in hospital staff’ mental health during the Covid-19 pandemic: longitudinal results from the international COPE-CORONA study

Changes in hospital staff’ mental health during the Covid-19 pandemic: longitudinal results from the international COPE-CORONA study

Changes in hospital staff’ mental health during the Covid‑19 pandemic: Longitudinal results from the international COPE-CORONA study

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Loneliness Among University Students: A Cross-Sectional Study in Jordan

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