From loneliness to depression: A longitudinal diagnostic study among Norwegian university students.

IF 3.5 2区医学 Q1 PSYCHIATRY

Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology Pub Date : 2025-09-17 DOI:10.1007/s00127-025-02989-y

Mari Hysing, Keith J Petrie, Allison G Harvey, Børge Sivertsen

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Purpose: Loneliness is an increasing public health concern among young adults. There is insufficient prior research on the association between loneliness and depressive disorder among students in higher education.

Methods: This prospective population-based cohort study from Norway invited all full-time students aged 18-35 to participate in the 2022 Students' Health and Wellbeing Study (SHoT). Of the 53,362 respondents, a subgroup of 16,418 students was randomly selected for diagnostic follow-up, with valid data from 10,460 participants. Loneliness was assessed in 2022 using the Three-Item Loneliness Scale (T-ILS) and Major Depressive Episodes (MDE) were assessed in 2023 using a self-administered electronic version of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview, version 5.0 (CIDI 5.0).

Results: A clear dose-response relationship was observed: students in the highest loneliness quintile had a substantially increased risk of MDE one year later. After adjusting for age and baseline anxiety and depression symptoms, the relative risk (RR) for MDE in the highest versus lowest T-ILS quintile was 2.02 (95% CI: 1.58-2.63) for females and 2.64 (95% CI: 1.63-4.49) for males-representing a ~ 70-75% reduction from unadjusted estimates. The overall prevalence of MDE was 21.1% in females and 11.2% in males. Formal interaction analyses indicated a statistically significant multiplicative interaction by sex, but no evidence of additive interaction.

Conclusions: Loneliness is a strong and independent predictor of MDE in young adults, even after accounting for baseline mental health. Targeting loneliness may be important for preventing depression in university populations.

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从孤独到抑郁：挪威大学生的纵向诊断研究。

目的：孤独是年轻人日益关注的公共健康问题。高等院校学生孤独感与抑郁之间的关系，目前的研究还不够充分。方法：这项来自挪威的前瞻性人群队列研究邀请所有18-35岁的全日制学生参加2022年学生健康与幸福研究（SHoT）。在53,362名受访者中，随机选择了16,418名学生进行诊断随访，并从10,460名参与者中获得有效数据。在2022年使用三项孤独量表（T-ILS）评估孤独感，在2023年使用自我管理的电子版综合国际诊断访谈5.0版（CIDI 5.0）评估重度抑郁发作（MDE）。结果：观察到明确的剂量-反应关系：孤独感最高的五分之一学生一年后发生MDE的风险显著增加。在调整了年龄和基线焦虑和抑郁症状后，在最高和最低T-ILS五分位数中，MDE的相对风险（RR）女性为2.02 (95% CI: 1.58-2.63)，男性为2.64 (95% CI: 1.63-4.49)，与未调整的估计值相比减少了70-75%。MDE的总患病率女性为21.1%，男性为11.2%。正式的相互作用分析表明，统计上显著的性别相乘相互作用，但没有证据表明加性相互作用。结论：孤独是年轻人MDE的一个强大且独立的预测因子，即使在考虑了基线心理健康之后也是如此。针对孤独感可能对预防大学生抑郁很重要。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 医学-精神病学

CiteScore

8.50

自引率

2.30%

发文量

184

审稿时长

3-6 weeks

期刊介绍： Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology is intended to provide a medium for the prompt publication of scientific contributions concerned with all aspects of the epidemiology of psychiatric disorders - social, biological and genetic. In addition, the journal has a particular focus on the effects of social conditions upon behaviour and the relationship between psychiatric disorders and the social environment. Contributions may be of a clinical nature provided they relate to social issues, or they may deal with specialised investigations in the fields of social psychology, sociology, anthropology, epidemiology, health service research, health economies or public mental health. We will publish papers on cross-cultural and trans-cultural themes. We do not publish case studies or small case series. While we will publish studies of reliability and validity of new instruments of interest to our readership, we will not publish articles reporting on the performance of established instruments in translation. Both original work and review articles may be submitted.