Social Support, Loneliness, Alcohol Use and Perceived Health Status in College Students

일부 대학생의 사회적지지, 외로움, 음주 및 건강지각에 관한 연구

The purpose of this study was to investigate the level of social support, loneliness, alcohol use and perceived health status in college students and to explore the relationships between the variables. The convenience sample consisted of 473 students attending a college located at Chonnam province. Data were collected by a structured questionnaire which included the PRO85-partⅡ Social Support Scale, revised UCLA Loneliness Scale, Alcohol frequency, Perceived Health Status Scale from June 10 to 25, 2001. And data were analyzed by SPSS/PC+program including descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson's Correlation Coefficients. The results are summarized as follows; 1. The mean scores of social support, loneliness and perceived health status were 3.01($SD={\pm}0.31$), 2.08($SD={\pm}0.34$), 1.64($SD={\pm}0.65$) respectively. 2. Students in use of alcohol mostly reported that they had started a drinking in the period of high school(35.7%), motivated with friendship(32.6%) and drank with their friends(56.9%) in drinking frequency of 2-3times per a month(49.6%). 3. The students who have friend of the opposite sex were significantly more likely to have higher than the students having no friend of the opposite sex in scores of social support. 4. The scores of loneliness were significantly lower in female students than male students, in students with friend of the opposite sex than with no friend of the opposite sex. 5. There were significant negative correlations between social support and loneliness(r=-5.25, p<.000), and between loneliness and perceived health status(r=-0.93, p<.05), while there was a significant positive correlation between social support and perceived health status(r=1.01, p<.05). The findings suggested that supportive social support, especially lowering loneliness, would be a powerful nursing intervention in maintaining good health of college students. And, more variables affecting health status in college students will be identified with further research.