Age, Financial Dependence, and Social Support as they relate to College Mental Health

Loneliness Results

Analysis of variance was conducted to determine the relationship between financial dependence, social support, and age as they relate to loneliness.

There was a significant interaction between financial dependence, total social support, and age as they relate to loneliness, (F(2, 392)=3.641, Mse=81.002, p<0.05, r=0.135), refer to Table 1 for descriptive statistics. As hypothesized when comparing those who were younger and older, there was no significant difference in loneliness for those that had high social support regardless whether or not they were financially dependent. The research hypothesis was partially supported for those that had low social support such that those that were older had significantly greater loneliness than those that were younger regardless of whether or not they were financially dependent; however contrary to the research hypothesis that the effect would be larger for those that were financially dependent on family (r=0.342), the effect was greater for those that were not financially dependent on family (r=0.615). Also in partial support for the research hypothesis, those that were older, financially dependent, and had medium social support had significantly greater loneliness than those that were younger (r=0.385); however contrary to the research hypothesis that those who are older, had medium social support, and are not financially dependent would have significantly greater loneliness than those that are younger, there was no significant difference (r=0.089).

There was no significant interaction between financial dependence and age as they relate to loneliness (F(1, 392)=0.205, p>0.05, r=0.023). This is misleading for those that had medium social support and were not financially dependent such that there was no significant difference between younger and older participants, while in general those who were not financially dependent and older had significantly greater loneliness than those who were not financially dependent and younger. This is also misleading for those with high social support such that there was no significant difference between younger and older participants regardless of whether or not they were financially dependent, while in general those who were older had significantly greater loneliness than those who were younger regardless of whether they were or were not financially dependent.

There was a significant interaction between social support and age as they relate to loneliness (F(2, 392)=4.976, p<0.05, r=0.157). There was a significant mean difference in loneliness for those with low and medium social support such that those who were older had greater loneliness than those who were younger and the effect was larger for those with low social support (r=0.497) compared to those with medium social support (r=0.246). For those with high social support there was no significant difference in loneliness between those that were younger and older. However, this is misleading for those that were not financially dependent and had medium social support such that there was no mean difference between those that were younger and older.

There was no significant interaction between social support and financial dependence as they relate to loneliness (F(2, 392)=2.516, p>0.05, r=0.113). This is misleading for those that are older and have low social support such that there was no significant difference between those that were and were not financially dependent, while in general those with low social support and were financially dependent had significantly greater loneliness than those that were not financially dependent.

There was a main effect of age as it relates to loneliness (F(1, 392)=20.869, p<0.001, r=0.225). Those that were older had significantly greater loneliness than those that were younger. However, this is misleading for those that were financially dependent and had high social support such that there was no significant difference between those that were younger and older. Also, this was misleading for those that were not financially dependent for both those that had medium and high social support such that there was no significant difference in loneliness between those that were younger and older.

There was a main effect of social support as it relates to loneliness (F(2, 392)=43.038, p<0.001, r=0.315). There was a significant difference between those with low and medium social support, as well as between those with medium and high social support such that those with less social support had greater loneliness, while the largest effect in loneliness was between those that had low social support and high social support. However, this is misleading for those that were financially dependent and were older such that there was no significant difference of loneliness between low, medium, or high social support.

There was a main effect of financial dependence as it relates to loneliness (F(2, 392)=8.412, p<0.01, r=0.145). Those that were financially dependent had significantly greater loneliness than those that were not financially dependent. However this is misleading for those that were younger and both medium and high social support such that there was no significant difference between those that were financially dependent and not financially dependent. Also, this was misleading for those that were older such that there was no significant difference in loneliness for those low, medium, or high social support when comparing those that were and were not financially dependent.

Abstract Introduction Methods  Loneliness Results Depression Results Trait Anxiety Results State Anxiety Results Discussion References Tables