Loneliness and psychological distress in everyday life among Latinx college students

Abstract

Objective: Changes in surroundings and social relationships may heighten feelings of loneliness, suggesting the need to measure as a state. This study tested whether loneliness fluctuates within and across days and the resultant associations with psychological distress. Further it tested familism as a moderator as endorsing this cultural value may buffer the negative effects of state loneliness.

Participants: Participants (n = 220) were Latinx undergraduate students.

Methods: Students reported their loneliness levels and psychological distress twice a day for two weeks using an ecological momentary assessment approach.

Results: Results showed that experiencing a higher than usual level of loneliness predicted greater sadness, stress, and anxiety at both the moment-to-moment and day-to-day level. Familism, measured at baseline, only moderated the relationship between loneliness and sadness.

Conclusions: The findings suggest being in a lonely moment may lead to the initiation or amplification of psychological distress immediately and the effects may linger over the day.Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2021.1927051.

Keywords: Anxiety; college students; ecological momentary assessment; loneliness; sadness; stress.