Loneliness and Alcohol use among College Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Rural Appalachia

Binge drinking and heavy alcohol use are highly prevalent among college students. During the COVID-19 pandemic, due to lockdown restrictions and other challenges, many college students were burdened with loneliness, which can contribute to chronic stress, and substance use. The current study explore...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Chronic stress (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) Vol. 8; p. 24705470241264909
Main Authors:	Ahuja, Manik, Miller-Slough, Rachel, Adebayo-Abikoye, Esther, Williams, Callon, Haubner, Andrea, Dooley, McKenzie G, Bansal, Minakshi, Sathiyaseelan, Thiveya, Pons, Amanda, Karki, Arpana, Al Ksir, Kawther, Samuel, Brook, Tchoua, Phoebe, Schuver, Trisha, Fernandopulle, Praveen
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States SAGE Publishing 01-01-2024
Subjects:	alcohol among college students loneliness and COVID-19 loneliness among college students loneliness and alcohol use alcohol use in rural areas
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	Binge drinking and heavy alcohol use are highly prevalent among college students. During the COVID-19 pandemic, due to lockdown restrictions and other challenges, many college students were burdened with loneliness, which can contribute to chronic stress, and substance use. The current study explores the association between loneliness and various levels of alcohol use among college students in the rural, underserved region of Central Appalachia, USA. Data were collected from a regional sample (n = 320) of college age adults, age 18-25 in the Central Appalachian region. The UCLA-3 item Loneliness Scale (UCLA-3) was used in the study to evaluate loneliness. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to assess the association between levels of loneliness and three separate outcomes, including past year binge drinking, past year heavy alcohol use, and past year weekly alcohol use. Overall, 25.5% of the participants reported severe loneliness, 33.6% reported moderate, and 40.9% reported low levels of loneliness. Results of the adjusted models revealed that severe loneliness was associated with higher odds of heavy alcohol use (AOR = 1.89, 95% CI [1.02, 3.50]) and binge drinking (AOR = 2.96, 95% CI [1.16, 7.51]), and not associated with weekly alcohol use. The study found that higher levels of loneliness were linked to both binged drinking and heavy alcohol use. Further efforts for counseling and treatment among college students who are burdened with severe loneliness should be considered. The chronic stress associated with severe loneliness needs to be further addressed, particularly among emerging adults.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	2470-5470 2470-5470
DOI:	10.1177/24705470241264909