Social Isolation and Drugs Addiction among University Students: The Mediating Role of Loneliness

Abstract

Social connectedness is a key aspect of university students' well-being, social isolation and loneliness can be a risk factor for substance-related issues. This study aimed to explore the relationship between social isolation and drug problem severity and to evaluate a mediation pathway between these constructs in university students. The quantitative, cross-sectional correlational design was used. This sample consisted of 4 Universities (2 public and 2 private) of Lahore, 75 students were sampled from each University. The universities were purposively selected and the students were sampled by stratified random sampling. The six-item Lubben Social Network Scale, UCLA Loneliness Scale, Version 3, and ten-item Drug Abuse Screening Test were used to collect data. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlations, and mediation analyses via the PROCESS Model 4 were specified with 5000 bootstrap samples and 95% confidence intervals. The results showed positive correlation between social isolation and social loneliness (r = .50, p < .001), social isolation and drug-related problems (r = .35, p < .001), and social loneliness and drug-related problems (r = .45, p < .001). The indirect association through loneliness was 0.075 (hypothetical confidence interval [0.047, 0.107]), which is still significant, along with the direct association. If this pattern is substantiated by actual analysis, it would be a sign that this is a partial statistical mediation. The results indicate possible utility for embedding social support and emotional coping within university prevention programs, but should not be interpreted as causal due to the nature of cross-sectional data and these hypothetical statistical estimates alone.