Loneliness and depressive symptoms among Australian female boarding school students

Abstract

Loneliness in adolescence is a risk factor for the development and maintenance of a myriad of mental health conditions, especially among females. Adolescent females in boarding schools spend prolonged periods away from family and may therefore be more prone to experiencing loneliness and depression. Research into this significant issue is limited, however. The present study compared the levels of loneliness and depressive symptoms of 403, 13–17 year old adolescent females from a range of boarding and non-boarding secondary schools. Confirmatory Factor Analyses established the fit of the loneliness and depressive symptom measures. Multivariate Analysis of Variance revealed boarding school students scored significantly higher than non- boarding school students on levels of depressive symptoms and having a positive attitude to being alone. These differences remained significant when age was covaried. There were no differences in quality of friendships, feelings of isolation, and having a negative attitude to being alone. The implications of these findings for boarding schools are discussed.

Boarding versus day‐students: A mixed‐methods analysis of sleep and its relationship with psychological distress

“…Analyses of questionnaire responses revealed that only two dimensions of homesickness were predictive of psychological distress: ruminating about home and loneliness. These homesickness dimensions have been previously reported as contributing to psychological distress in secondary (Rudrum et al, 2022) and college boarding students (Moeller & Seehuus, 2019;Morrison & O'Connor, 2005). As protective measures, boarding students participating in the focus groups identified social interaction, immersion in activities, routine and keeping busy as antidotes to homesickness.…”

“…In particular, more information is needed regarding which aspects of sleep are most disrupted, for example, the timing of sleep versus the frequency and duration of nocturnal awakenings. A further issue is that secondary school boarding students typically report greater psychological distress than day-student peers (Fisher et al, 1984(Fisher et al, , 1990Lester & Mander, 2020;Rudrum et al, 2022;Wahab et al, 2013). Poor sleep is likely to play a contributing role but whether this is in addition to already well-established predictors of psychological distress such as gender (Campbell et al, 2021) and homesickness (Demetriou et al, 2021;Fisher et al, 1984Fisher et al, , 1990Stroebe et al, 2002;Thurber et al, 2007;Thurber & Walton, 2012) remains to be tested.…”

“…Boarding is reported to promote social connectedness, life satisfaction, peer relationships and academic outcomes (Mander, Cohen, & Pooley, 2015;Mander, Lester, & Cross, 2015;Martin et al, 2014Martin et al, , 2016Martin et al, , 2021. By contrast, boarding is also associated with homesickness, conduct problems and mood/emotional problems (Fisher et al, 1984(Fisher et al, , 1990Lester & Mander, 2020;Mander, Cohen, & Pooley, 2015;Mander, Lester, & Cross, 2015;Rudrum et al, 2022;Wahab et al, 2013). These issues are especially prevalent in adolescence which is a well-recognized period for the onset of depression (McGorry et al, 2007).…”

“…These issues are especially prevalent in adolescence which is a well‐recognized period for the onset of depression (McGorry et al, 2007). Rural, Indigenous Australians and minority students are well‐represented in Australian boarding houses, and these groups of students have a higher incidence of mood disorders (Macdonald et al, 2018; McCalman et al, 2020; Redman‐MacLaren et al, 2017; Rudrum et al, 2022). Finally, and consistent with findings in the general population, adolescent females at boarding schools are more likely to report mood disorders (Rau et al, 2018; Yu, 2018) with loneliness proposed as a possible risk factor (Rudrum et al, 2022).…”

Yatili Bölge Okulu Öğrenci̇leri̇ni̇n Uyum Sorunlarinin Psi̇koloji̇k Danişman Gözüyle Değerlendi̇ri̇lmesi̇

“…Foremost amongst these issues is being away from family and adaptation problems, which are important enough to be discussed at Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA) (Eraslan, 2006). When examining the international literature, it is observed that boarding schools are mostly for adolescents, and prominent issues include mental health (Aisyaroh and Ediyono, 2023;Hopkins et al, 2023), psychological resilience (Langham et al, 2018;Redman-MacLaren et al,2017), loneliness (Baru, et al, 2020;Rudrum, 2020), and adaptation (Sri-Wahyuni and Barus, 2020;Su et al, 2019). Hence, there is a need for effective psychological guidance and counseling services to support the psychological and social development of the students at RBSs and help them with their emotional problems (Atli, 2018;Pavletic et al, 2016).…”