Loneliness at American Univeristy
You are not alone.Loneliness:
A feeling of disconnectedness or isolation; inability to find meaning in one’s life; a negative feeling related to the deficient social relations (Tiwari, 2015)
To me, loneliness is the feeling you have when you cannot rely on anyone or confide in when you are having a bad day or even a good day.
Loneliness is the feeling when you have no one there for you. No support system, no one watching out for you, no one cares about you. I believe that loneliness can very easily evolve into a much more severe mental health issue, such as depression or suicidal ideation.
Loneliness can vary widely from one person to another, but most generally, I believe it is the feeling of complete solitude to the point that gets in the way of everyday life.
College Students across the United States
The following data is from a 2017 American College Health Association study of 50,000 undergraduate students across the US and a 2016 UCLA study of their freshman class.
%
Undergraduate students who self-reported feeling "very lonely"
Isolation and loneliness may seem as if it only impacts freshman and transfer students during their transition, but students across all years can experience loneliness.
%
UCLA Freshman who felt a sense of belonging in their first semester
Remember:
You are not alone.
You have more in common with your classmates than you think.
Every participant in the loneliness focus group indicated that they have experienced loneliness at one point or another during their time at American University.
This is not isolated to American University.
Loneliness is a common experience across US college campuses. A New York Times Op-Ed highlights how this feeling is most common among freshman and transfer students, but can and does impact anyone.
There are resources that can help.
It can seem intimidating to navigate AU’s mental health resources, but applicable resources for AU students can be found here!
References
Bergmann, E. [Emery Bergmann]. (2017,Oct 13). My college transition [Video file].
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAUcoadqRlE
Bruni, F. (2017, September 2). The Real Campus Scourge. The New York Times. Retrieved
from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/02/opinion/sunday/college-freshman-mental-
health.html.
Eagan, M. K., Stolzenberg, E. B., Zimmerman, H. B., Aragon, M. C., Whang Sayson, H., & Rios-Aguilar, C.
(2017). The American freshman: National norms fall 2016. Los Angeles: Higher Education Research Institute, UCLA.
Fact Sheet: Loneliness on Campus (2019). The UnLonely Project. [Fact sheet]. Retrieved
from https://artandhealing.org/campus-loneliness-fact-sheet/
Tiwari, S. (2013). Loneliness: a disease. Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 55(4), 320–322. doi:
10.4103/0019-5545.120536