Abstract

Paying attention to the physical and mental health of students as future-builders of the country is very important. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the epidemiological pattern of loneliness and its related factors in students of Maragheh University of Medical Sciences. The research was an analytical cross-sectional study in which 323 students of Maragheh University of Medical Sciences were selected by means of census method and applying the inclusion criteria and data were collected using demographic characteristics and revised University of California, Los Angeles (R-UCLA) Loneliness Scale. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 20, descriptive statistics, one way ANOVA and Chi-square. The prevalence of moderate and severe loneliness was reported to be 50.5 and 31.6, respectively. In addition, there was a significant relationship between loneliness of the participants and their gender (P < 0.001), birth order (P = 0.004), birth place (P < 0.001), and academic term (P = 0.001). The results of the present study accentuate the necessity of paying attention to the loneliness status in students, exploring situations and reasons that intensify the feeling in this age group as well as identify intervention plans that could reduce it. © 2018, Advanced Scientific Research. All rights reserved.