AUTHOR=Gu Simeng , He Zhengming , Sun Lianwang , Jiang Yao , Xu Minghong , Feng Guangkui , Ma Xianjun , Wang Fushun , Huang Jason H. 

TITLE=Effects of Coronavirus-19 Induced Loneliness on Mental Health: Sleep Quality and Intolerance for Uncertainty as Mediators

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychiatry

VOLUME=12

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.738003

DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2021.738003

ISSN=1664-0640

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Objective:</bold> The aim of the study is to investigate effects of loneliness on individual's mental health and the mediating effects of intolerance of uncertainty and sleep quality in the post Coronavirus-19 period, especially for the young people.</p><p><bold>Methods:</bold> The questionnaires used in this study include UCLA loneliness scale (UCLA-3), the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), intolerance for uncertainty (IU) and the Chinese version of DASS-21. A total number of 289 subjects were recruited in the study, which includes 209 females (72.3%), 80 males (27.7%); and 212 students (73.4%), 77 working staffs (26.6%).</p><p><bold>Results:</bold> The results showed that: (1) people have high levels of loneliness, anxiety, depression and stress, and poor sleep quality; (2) the mediating effect of intolerance for uncertainty in the relationship of loneliness and mental health is significant (effect size = 0.178, 95% CI confidence interval: [0.115, 0.241]), and the mediating effects of sleep quality in the relationship between loneliness and mental health is significant (effect size = 0.127, 95% CI confidence interval: [0.017, 0.239]).</p><p><bold>Conclusion:</bold> Loneliness invokes a stronger self-concerned inadaptability to threat response and may lead to more mental diseases through more serious intolerance for uncertainty and insomnia.</p>