Relationship between loneliness and mental health in students
Relationship between loneliness and mental health in students
Purpose: Previous cross-sectional research has examined effect of loneliness on mental health. This study aimed to examine longitudinal relationships in students.
Design/Methodology: 454 British undergraduate students completed measures of loneliness and mental health at four time points.
Findings: After controlling for demographics and baseline mental health, greater loneliness predicted greater anxiety, stress, depression and general mental health over time. There was no evidence that mental health problems increased loneliness over time. There was no relationship with alcohol problems. Baseline loneliness predicted greater eating disorder risk at follow-up and vice versa.
Research Limitations/Implications: This study is limited by a relatively small and heavily female sample.
Implications: Social and psychological interventions to reduce loneliness in university settings may improve mental health.
48-54
Richardson, Thomas
f8d84122-b061-4322-a594-5ef2eb5cad0d
Elliott, Peter
5822a831-b8e7-440d-9b0d-81721337a3e2
Roberts, Ron
a64219d4-a9cb-4135-b46b-57fff7347b04
Jansen, Megan
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Richardson, Thomas
f8d84122-b061-4322-a594-5ef2eb5cad0d
Elliott, Peter
5822a831-b8e7-440d-9b0d-81721337a3e2
Roberts, Ron
a64219d4-a9cb-4135-b46b-57fff7347b04
Jansen, Megan
0cb45894-0310-4e66-bd06-bd773ee06c8e
Richardson, Thomas, Elliott, Peter, Roberts, Ron and Jansen, Megan
(2017)
Relationship between loneliness and mental health in students.
Journal of Public Mental Health, 16 (2), .
(doi:10.1108/JPMH-03-2016-0013).
Abstract
Purpose: Previous cross-sectional research has examined effect of loneliness on mental health. This study aimed to examine longitudinal relationships in students.
Design/Methodology: 454 British undergraduate students completed measures of loneliness and mental health at four time points.
Findings: After controlling for demographics and baseline mental health, greater loneliness predicted greater anxiety, stress, depression and general mental health over time. There was no evidence that mental health problems increased loneliness over time. There was no relationship with alcohol problems. Baseline loneliness predicted greater eating disorder risk at follow-up and vice versa.
Research Limitations/Implications: This study is limited by a relatively small and heavily female sample.
Implications: Social and psychological interventions to reduce loneliness in university settings may improve mental health.
Text
Loneliness paper.pdf
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 21 October 2016
e-pub ahead of print date: 8 May 2017
Organisations:
Psychology
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 401938
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/401938
ISSN: 1746-5729
PURE UUID: 4d66d3e0-97b8-488f-9620-6d10cade7539
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 02 Nov 2016 09:48
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 06:00
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Contributors
Author:
Peter Elliott
Author:
Ron Roberts
Author:
Megan Jansen
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