Rates and Predictors of Loneliness and Generalized Anxiety among Latinx College Students in Puerto Rico

Resumen

Loneliness and Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) are among college students' most common mental health problems. In the last years,

there has been an increase in the prevalence of these conditions due to COVID-19 social distancing measures. Despite this, few studies

have explored the relationship feelings of loneliness had anxiety symptoms in higher education Hispanic institutions. Puerto Rican college

students are a unique and vulnerable group at the intersection of socioeconomic and health disparities. Therefore, the present study explored

whether loneliness experienced during the Pandemic could predict GAD symptoms of students from the University of Puerto Rico, Rio

Piedras campus. Researchers used a cross-sectional study design with an online survey that collected sociodemographic data, anxiety

symptoms (GAD-7), and feelings of loneliness (TILS) from a sample of 356 university students between April and December 2022.

Researchers performed two simple linear regression models to predict anxiety symptoms. The first model results revealed that loneliness

predicted 15% of the variance related to anxiety symptoms (R2 = .15, F (1,340) = 59.17, p < .001). In the second model, researchers

controlled for sex; however, no significant changes were observed in the model (r = .08). The results of this study suggest that feelings of

loneliness during the Pandemic were significantly related to GAD symptoms experienced by college students. In addition, being female

was significantly associated with anxiety symptoms compared to males, although the effect was small. Implications for future research,

clinical practice, and academic institutions are discussed.