Abstract

Objectives: Although loneliness and stress have been widely implicated in worse mental health outcomes for college students, the relationship between them remains poorly understood. Participants: Data were collected from 111 undergraduates at a large Midwestern university in fall 2019 - winter 2020. A subset (N = 34) of those responded to a follow-up survey during the COVID-19 pandemic (May 2020). Methods: At both time points, participants completed measures of loneliness and stress, as well as well-validated measures of depression and anxiety. Results: Prior to the pandemic, stress mediated the positive relationship between loneliness and depression. During the pandemic, mental health outcomes, stress, and loneliness all increased. Stress, but not loneliness, predicted college students’ worse mental health outcomes during the pandemic. Conclusions: Stress plays a key role in college students’ worsening mental health. Reducing loneliness may be a potential strategy to mitigate the negative impact of stress on college students’ mental health.

摘要

目标：虽然孤独和压力与大学生较差的心理健康结果广泛相关，但对它们之间的关系仍知之甚少。参与者：数据收集自 2019 年秋季至 2020 年冬季一所大型中西部大学的 111 名本科生。其中一部分 (N = 34) 在 COVID-19 大流行期间（2020 年 5 月）对后续调查做出了回应。方法：在两个时间点，参与者都完成了孤独感和压力测量，以及经过充分验证的抑郁和焦虑测量。结果：在大流行之前，压力介导了孤独与抑郁之间的正相关关系。在大流行期间，心理健康结果、压力和孤独感都增加了。压力而非孤独预示着大学生在大流行期间的心理健康状况更差。结论：压力在大学生心理健康恶化中起着关键作用。减少孤独感可能是减轻压力对大学生心理健康的负面影响的潜在策略。