College is a great time for incoming students to branch into the unknown and explore who they are. For some, this experience is considered exhilarating, but for others, this is contributing to something known as the loneliness epidemic.
Loneliness is a very subjective concept, leading to multiple definitions of the word itself. For our purposes, the definition we will use is provided by Elizabeth M. Ross, who wrote on behalf of the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Ross claims that loneliness is a “subjective distressing experience that results from perceived isolation or inadequate meaningful connections, where inadequate refers to the discrepancy or unmet need between an individual’s preferred and actual experience.” Being a semi-cryptic description, this can make collecting truly representative data harder.
Without a good support group and knowledge, this phenomenon can cause irreparable damage to students. In an article by Michelle Flesaker, an epidemiologist, it is mentioned that some of these impacts have been linked to “premature mortality, and mortality due to cardiovascular disease and stroke, hypertension, and type 3 diabetes.”
It’s baffling to see real medical attributions to something so many of us play off as a non-occurrence; it makes it even more disheartening that a social construct is more important to uphold than the simple truth.
Of course, the risk factors of falling into this nefarious phenomenon depend on one’s demographics. However, this is also broken down by Flesaker in a gender sense, where she says, “Loneliness as of two years ago was generally higher in transgender/nonbinary students (66–67%) than females (50–52%) and males (49–50%),” but today this figure of loneliness looks more like “transgender/nonbinary students (79%) … females (59%) and males (54%).”
That is a haunting predominance amongst all of these demographics, adding to the necessity to talk about the topic. This growth, even by seemingly minute percentiles, is something to take notice of.
The loneliness epidemic was largely researched after COVID-19. However, trends of loneliness during the transitional period into adulthood predate any correlation to the pandemic. “Although many people grew lonelier during the COVID-19 pandemic, about half of American adults had already reported experiences of loneliness even before the outbreak,” Ross explained. Essentially, an exacerbation of an underresearched epidemic occurred during the pandemic, which could explain the growth in Flesaker’s statistics.
In a time when mental health discussions can seem plentiful and even commonplace, ActiveMinds—a leading nonprofit centered on adolescent mental health education and awareness—notes why reminders of all types of mental health are so valid.
According to ActiveMinds, “Caring for [your] mental health is necessary for student engagement, belonging, retention, and degree completion.” Mental health, even aspects that students don’t think about or nourish, is foundational to socialization, stability and one’s sense of self in the chaotic landscape of a college campus.
A discussion of loneliness is meant, ultimately, to bring attention and empathy to an epidemic being suffered by the majority of college students, shining a light on this affliction and showing students that they are not alone. For those struggling, don’t be afraid to use the counseling services at Northwestern State University of Louisiana. For more information, please follow the link.
