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Experience of Loneliness and Social Support during COVID-19 Confinement: A Nation-wide self-Assessment among Undergraduates of Nepal

Kushalata Baral, Maginsh Dahal, Sudip Khanal, Poonam Subedi, Kabita Pathak, Akriti Kafle, Pratikshya Gurung

Asian Journal of Research in Infectious Diseases · pp. 12–20 · Published 3 Sep 2021

10.9734/ajrid/2021/v8i130227

Abstract

In the account of the social nature of human beings, the given difficult circumstance due to COVID-19 may call upon social loneliness, emotional loneliness, and moreover, lack of perceived social support. We aim to elucidate by assessing the level of loneliness and the level of social support perceived by college students amidst the COVID-19 lockdown. A web-based cross-sectional survey was conducted among 970 Nepalese undergraduate students. Responses were extracted, cleaned, and analyzed with the help of R-studio (version 1.2.5033). Descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation described participants’ demographic characteristics. Karl Pearson’s Correlation analysis and significant test of correlation for loneliness, social support, and their various subscales, respectively were significant at 0.1%, 1%, and 5% level of significance. The mean age of respondents was 22.2 years (SD =2.74). Significant correlations were observed among social loneliness, emotional loneliness, overall loneliness (social loneliness and emotional loneliness combined), social family support, social friends support, social significant others support, and total social support (that is to say, all the social support subscales). The study reported that a decrease in social support leads to an increase in loneliness. Likewise, a decrease in social support from family, friends, and from significant others can increase emotional and overall loneliness.

Confinement COVID-19 loneliness social support Nepal

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Cited by 4

Experience of Perceived Stress and Associated Factors during COVID 19 Lockdown among Hoteliers of Pokhara, Nepal

Akriti Kafle, Maginsh Dahal, Sudip Khanal, Kushalata Baral, Sirjana Pandit Pahari, Pratikshya Gurung, Raj Kumar Sangroula, Kabita Pathak, Suraj Baral, Anil Kafle, Sreya Paudyal, Niru Gurung, Anjali Parajuli · Asian Journal of Research in Infectious Diseases · 2021

Loneliness Is Becoming an Epidemic Among Youth in Urban Nepal: A Cross-Sectional Study

Jeevan Bhusal, Kripa Bhatta · Research Square · 2026

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