Abstract

• The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of loneliness on drinking, smoking, and health perception(symptom pattern & subjective health) in college students. The convenience sample consisted of 417 college students attending four universities. The Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale(RULS) and the Symptom Pattern Scale were used to collect the data. In this study, 84.7% of the subjects used alcohol, with a mean of 5.52 drinks per week, and 32.9% of the subjects smoked for a mean of 5.08 cigarette packs per week during the previous month. The mean score loneliness measured by the RULS was 40.82, indicating that the subjects were moderately lonely. The majority of the subjects had a low level of symptom pattern and evaluated their health as either very good or good. The level of alcohol drinking and the smoking increased and symptom pattern decreased with age. Female students were lonelier than male students in this study. Also, the female students had a lower level of symptom pattern and evaluated their health worse than the male students. Male students consumed more alcohol and smoked more cigarette than female students. Living arrangement was significantly related to the level of loneliness. The subjects who lived with their parents and siblings were less lonely than those who lived with their friends, or relatives or who lived in a dormitory. Age and religion were not related to the level of loneliness. The level of loneliness influenced drinking, symptom pattern, and subjective health. The study found that subjects who were more lonely consumed alcohol less, had a higher level of symptom pattern, and perceived their health worse than those who were less lonely. Smoking was not influenced by loneliness in this study.
• Keywords: Loneliness; Alcohol drinking; Smoking; Health perception; College student

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