SMARTEN
  • Contact
  • About
    • Conference 2020
    • Leadership
    • Student Media Team
    • Student Team 20/21 >
      • Student Team 19/20
      • Student Team 18/19
  • Take part
    • Groups >
      • Lab Group
      • SIGs
      • Discussion Groups
    • Participate in Research
  • Funding
    • Funding FAQs
    • Funded Research 2019
    • Funded Research 2020
  • Blog
    • Blog Post Guidance
  • Resources
    • COVID 19 Study >
      • Suggestions following Covid Research
    • Reading List
    • Review of National Surveys
    • Interviews
    • Newsletter
  • Mental Health Research Matters

Blog.

The SMaRteN blog is where we hear from practitioners, academics, students and others about their work in the student mental health sector. 
We're always looking for new Blog posts: to contribute, email smarten@kcl.ac.uk or read our Blog Post Guidance.

UNIVERSITY STUDENTS: Covid, Mental Health and Loneliness

11/6/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
​We know that, for all of us as social beings, no matter what our age, social support and social contact is incredibly important for wellbeing. Social life has really important functions for students who are young adults starting out at university. At that transitional life stage, it is important share experiences with peers, and to establish social connections. Therefore, the potential impacts of the restrictions on social contact imposed by disease containment measures may result in increased loneliness. That is, a painful feeling that arises when there is a gap between actual and desired social contact. 

The mental health impacts of resultant loneliness may be particularly concerning for young people, including university students, including over time. Our rapid review of the existing evidence about the links between mental health and loneliness (Loades et al.) included several studies of young adults who were university students. We found that when measured at the same time, loneliness was related to both depression and anxiety symptoms, as well as to suicidal thoughts. Over time, there was evidence that loneliness is associated with subsequent depression, up to 3 years later in university students. These studies took place at universities across the world, including in the USA, the UK as well as Europe, Asia and Africa.
 
In the COVID context, we should therefore pay particular attention to those young adults at university who are experiencing loneliness due to social distancing, self-isolation and quarantine measures. Ensuring that opportunities for all students to connect socially with each other, despite the restrictions in place, should be a focus of university wellbeing strategies. Social connection may be through digital means and face-to-face at a safe distance wherever possible. Universities may also consider ways to identify those who are lonely and provide targeted support for both socially connecting and for managing mental health and promoting wellbeing. These efforts, where successful, are likely to be of benefit over time.  Mentally healthy students learn better, and therefore, wellbeing should be at the heart of university strategies.


Dr Maria Loades, Senior Lecturer in Clinical Psychology and NIHR Research Fellow, Department of Psychology, University of Bath

References
McManus, M. N., Borwick, C., & Crawley, E. Rapid Systematic Review: The Impact of Social Isolation and Loneliness on the Mental Health of Children and Adolescents in the Context of COVID-19. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2020.05.009  


0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    February 2021
    January 2021
    November 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018

    Categories

    All
    Academic Identity
    Anthropology
    Assessment Design
    Belonging
    Coping
    Counselling
    Creative Arts
    Culture
    Ethnography
    Learning Analytics
    Midwifery Students
    Mixed Methods
    Nursing Students
    Participate In Research
    Pedagogy
    Peer Support
    Perfectionism
    PhD Students
    Positive Psychology

    RSS Feed

    Your Blog

    We are using this blog to help connect stakeholders across Higher Education interested in student mental health. If you have a project you are working on or an idea you'd like to develop, why not write your own blog post for us?

Welcome to the SMaRteN Network! We hope to hear from you soon.

Keep us up to date with your research! We love to showcase members' work and initiatives in student mental health research. 


Email

smarten@kcl.ac.uk
Sign up
  • Contact
  • About
    • Conference 2020
    • Leadership
    • Student Media Team
    • Student Team 20/21 >
      • Student Team 19/20
      • Student Team 18/19
  • Take part
    • Groups >
      • Lab Group
      • SIGs
      • Discussion Groups
    • Participate in Research
  • Funding
    • Funding FAQs
    • Funded Research 2019
    • Funded Research 2020
  • Blog
    • Blog Post Guidance
  • Resources
    • COVID 19 Study >
      • Suggestions following Covid Research
    • Reading List
    • Review of National Surveys
    • Interviews
    • Newsletter
  • Mental Health Research Matters