Post COVID-19, Are Students Still Lonely and Isolated?
: A Mixed Methods Investigation into Rates of Loneliness and Social Isolation Amongst Students, And the Impact These Have on Their Wellbeing

  • James Stockton

Student thesis: Master's Thesis

Abstract

This project investigated rates of loneliness and social isolation amongst university students and what if any effect these had on wellbeing. For the purposes of this research, wellbeing was measured via capturing participants rates of both flourishing and resilience. Flourishing referring to the participants belief that their day to day life was fulfilling their emotional and social needs and that they were also optimistic regarding their future. Resilience, referring to their ability to both resist and recover from stressful situations. The foundational knowledge underpinning this project was generated via a systematic literature review (SLR) following PRISMA guidance. This review highlighted the impact that both loneliness and social isolation were having on students prior to and during the COVID-19 lockdowns, as well as the difference between loneliness and social isolation. To investigate progression of these issues post COVID-19, a questionnaire was constructed and distributed to students at the University of Huddersfield, this was comprised of four scales, the University of California Los Angeles loneliness scale (UCLA) the Lubben social network scale(LSNS) the brief resilience scales (BRS) and the flourishing scale (FS). Post data collection, analysis was carried out on 75 responses in SPSS. Results showed a variety of positive and negative correlations between variables. As an additional test, factor analysis was carried out which produced an emergent finding suggesting that with the definitions of loneliness used in this project, the UCLA scales were not the best fit for measuring levels of loneliness. Analysis of all results suggests that rates of loneliness and isolation remain high amongst students, and whilst these do not directly affect wellbeing, both flourishing and resilience are low amongst students.
Date of Award19 Dec 2023
Original languageEnglish
SupervisorSteve Lui (Main Supervisor) & Jamie Halsall (Co-Supervisor)

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