Psychological correlates of perceived loneliness in college students before and during the COVID-19 stay-at-home period: a longitudinal study

Table 2 Comparisons of clinical characteristics before (T0) and after (T1) COVID-19 outbreak in loneliness-related groups

Variables, mean (SD)	Loneliness-related groups^a			Time		Time*UCLA (T0)		Time*Group		Within-Groups comparisons
Variables, mean (SD)	A (Low) (n = 42)	B (Medium) (n = 95)	C (High) (n = 40)	F	η²	F	η²	F	η²	Post-hoc Bonferroni
PHQ-9
T0	4.52 (3.19)	8.58 (5.29)	12.12 (6.74)	11.78**	0.07	10.16**	0.06	5.59**	0.06	A < C
T1	5.09 (3.66)	8.15 (5.06)	13.50 (6.44)
GAD-7
T0	4.88 (3.91)	7.44 (4.81)	9.20 (5.41)	22.16***	0.12	20.34***	0.11	9.29***	0.10	–
T1	5.24 (4.79)	7.04 (4.69)	10.82 (5.53)
PHQ-15
T0	6.33 (4.78)	8.73 (5.02)	10.52 (5)	0.005	–	0.16	0.001	0.88	0.01	–
T1	5.90 (4.51)	9.05 (5.20)	12.10 (5.97)
TAS-20
T0	35.19 (7.86)	43.48 (10.51)	47.95 (12.12)	8.93**	0.05	6.76*	0.04	9.92***	0.11	A < B, C
T1	32.83 (7.21)	44.99 (11.17)	53.17 (13.08)
DIF
T0	12.05 (4.19)	15.85 (6.61)	18.52 (6.18)	7.35**	0.04	6.22*	0.04	5.69**	0.07	A < B, C
T1	10.93 (3.56)	16.92 (6.41)	20.32 (7.42)
DDF
T0	10.14 (4.69)	13.29 (4.71)	14.97 (5.07)	2.18	0.01	3.19	0.02	5.28**	0.06	A < B, C
T1	8.90 (2.93)	12.73 (4.90)	15.87 (4.23)
EOT
T0	13 (2.69)	14.34 (3.57)	14.45 (4.52)	3.31	0.02	0.78	0.005	4.41*	0.05	A < B, C
T1	13 (3.19)	15.34 (3.52)	16.97 (4.67)

UCLA University of California Los Angeles Loneliness Scale, PHQ-9 Patient Health Questionnaire-9, GAD-7 General Anxiety Disorder-7, PHQ-15 Patient Health Questionnaire-15, TAS-20 Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20, DIF Difficulties Identifying Feelings, DDF Difficulties Describing Feelings, EOT Externally Oriented Thinking
^aLevels of loneliness at T1 as low (UCLA < 25th centile = 20–31), medium (UCLA 25th-75th centile = 31.01 – 53.25), and high (UCLA > 75th centile = 53.26—80)
All values are standardized regression weights. *p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001

ISSN: 2050-7283