“Oh my God I am alone”: young adult students’ experiences of living alone in a time of global uncertainty

ABSTRACT

This study explores young adult students’ experiences of living alone during the COVID-19 pandemic, addressing a vital research gap by investigating the collective influence of youth, student status, and solitary living on mental health. Remote semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18–24-year-olds in UK universities who had lived alone for at least 2 weeks between September 2020 and March 2021 (N = 8; 4 males; 19–24 years, M = 21.75). Reflexive thematic analysis identified four themes and two subthemes. Living alone was experienced as confinement, accompanied by loneliness and perceptions of loss and injustice. The experience significantly impacted mental health, which was exacerbated by social isolation and withdrawal. Accessing social support and connection through technology was protective. Findings have implications for the design of interventions for young people dealing with isolation. Improving emotion regulation and social skills and preventing social withdrawal are important intervention targets.

KEYWORDS:

• Mental health
• loneliness
• social isolation
• young adults
• students
• COVID-19

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the participants in this study. The data was collected at Queen’s University Belfast, School of Psychology, Belfast, Northern Ireland and the research was completed at University of Galway, School of Psychology, Galway, Ireland.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Author contribution statement

JG: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Formal analysis, Resources, Writing – Original Draft, Writing – Review & Editing, Visualization, Supervision LM: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing, Project administration PMP: Methodology, Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing LGW: Methodology, Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing.

Data availability statement

The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article.References

Additional information

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.