The Importance of Others: The Link Between Stress and Social Connectedness in University Students

The mental health of undergraduate students is a concern across many North American institutions. To support students’ mental well-being and help them manage stress, many Canadian post-secondary institutions have introduced a mid-semester break during the fall term. However, there has been limited work evaluating whether this fall break is associated with a decrease in stress (a well-established correlate of mental health). Further, it is not known which demographic variables and lifestyle factors (e.g., sleep patterns, regular exercise) may contribute to a change in stress surrounding the fall break. We assessed the effects of the fall break on perceived stress levels and investigated whether these effects varied according to gender and the quality of students’ social network. Our results indicate that on its own, the fall break did not reduce students’ level of perceived stress. Further, students who reported feeling socially disconnected reported greater stress (both pre- and post-break) than those who reported being more content with their social network. Men in our sample reported less perceived stress than women. We recommend that mental health initiatives on campuses integrate strategies to build social connections between students and emphasize outreach programs to students who report feeling socially disconnected. We acknowledge the increased necessity and challenge of doing this in the context of education in the time of COVID-19.