The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 42, No. 2 - 50

William R. Henninger IV * Anastasia Osbeck * Elaine M. Eshbaugh * Christopher Madigan

mates, and other peers available to support
them in completing their academic tasks (Lidy
& Kahn, 2006).

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of this study was to determine the
relationship between college students' loneliness and students' perceived level of support
as it is inﬂuenced by covariates (e.g., year in
college, roommate status) related to these variables. The relationship between roommate
status and gender was also investigated. An interaction for gender and roommate status was
used to compare the association between roommate status and loneliness in men and women.

RESEARCH METHOD
Demographics
Students living in three randomly selected
residence halls at a comprehensive mid-sized
Midwestern university were mailed a packet of
questionnaires in the spring of 2007. Of the
495 questionnaires mailed, 316 (64%) were
returned. Students who completed the survey
were eligible to win small prizes from local
businesses. Females made up 74% percent (n =
234) of the participants. Students were categorized by year as 37% (n = 117) freshmen, 37.3%
(n = 118) sophomores, 20.6% (n = 65) juniors,
and 5.1% (n = 16) seniors. The mean age for
participants was 19.42 (SD = 1.07). More than
98% of participants identiﬁed themselves as
White/European-American. Other ethnicities
represented were Black/African-American (n
= 1), Hispanic/Latino (n = 1), and "other" (n =
3). Twenty-ﬁve percent of participants identiﬁed themselves as education majors, and 18%
responded that they were majoring in an area
of business.

50

Measures
Outcomes variables: Loneliness. The
UCLA Loneliness Scale, a 20-item instrument,
was used to measure loneliness (Russell,
Peplau, & Cutrona, 1980). The scale assesses
general, or global, loneliness and is one of
the most widely used loneliness measures.
Participants were asked to respond to statements such as "I feel left out; I feel completely
alone; and I lack companionship." Participants
responded by selecting from a Likert scale of
choices ranging from "I often feel this way" to
"I never feel this way." The statement "I often
feel this way" is assigned a score of 3, where
"I never feel this way" is assigned a score of
0. Total scores for this measure range from
0 to 60. Higher scores indicate higher levels
of loneliness. Cronbach's alpha in the present
study was .92. (See Appendix A.)

Covariates: Social support. Participants
were asked to indicate their gender, year in
school, and whether they were currently living
with a roommate in their residence hall (roommate status). Participants completed the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support
(Zimet, Dahlem, Zimet, & Farley, 1988) to
assess social support from friends, signiﬁcant
others, and family. The 12-item scale uses a
7-point Likert-type response format (1 = very
strongly disagree; 7 = very strongly agree). Scores
on this measure ranged from 1 to 94. Each of
the three sources of support was assessed by
four items. Cronbach's alphas for the subscales
ranged from .91 (family and friends) to .93
(signiﬁcant other). (See Appendix B.)

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The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 42, No. 2

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