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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Health Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1529795

Social connections combat loneliness and promote well-being among college students coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic

Provisionally accepted

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The COVID-19 pandemic impacted young people's mental health but we still need to explore this impact in the long term. The aim of this study is to analyze college students' well-being and loneliness in relation to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social support, and the frequency of activities carried out with others following the period of strictest restrictions. A total of 291 college students enrolled in an Italian University filled in an online questionnaire including measures of anxiety, depression, life satisfaction, loneliness, perceived social support, and the impact of COVID-19 on their quality of life. The results showed that the greatest impact of the pandemic related to higher levels of loneliness, anxiety, depression and lower satisfaction with life. Conversely, greater social support and frequency of activities carried out with others were associated with lower levels of loneliness and depression, and higher satisfaction with life. Some differences related to gender and being a long-term international student. These results are important to inform interventions to support college students' well-being and foster social connections among them.

    Keywords: college students, Loneliness, young adults' mental health, social support, Well-being

    Received: 17 Nov 2024; Accepted: 06 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Cipolletta, Ronconi and Tomaino. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Sabrina Cipolletta, University of Padua, Padua, Italy

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.