The Role of Loneliness on College Freshmen Retention

Keywords: Applied Behavioral Psychology, Belonging/Rejection What factors contribute to student retention, dropout, and success within the first semester? We hypothesize that persistent feelings of loneliness, isolation, and a lack of social connection to the university across the semester play a major role in a student’s intentions to continue enrollment. We will assess this in a sample of n = 30 first semester freshman enrolled in a university success seminar across the Fall 2025 semester, of whom n = 8 completed Wave 1 and Wave 4 of data collection. We used the 20 item UCLA loneliness scale, 24 item University Belonging, and a 3 item measure of intent to continue enrollment at the same undergraduate institution. We hypothesize that higher feelings of loneliness that persist across the semester will be related to weaker intentions to continue enrollment, and that reduced feelings of university belonging will mediate this relationship. This research will provide valuable information and contributions to the field of literature in understanding how student loneliness, isolation, and lack of social integration with the university mediate the student’s choice to stay or drop out. This study will help understand how social factors contribute to college student success.