Loneliness undermines college students’ opportunities to hone their social and emotional competencies

Attending college presents rich and ample opportunities for students to develop and hone their social and emotional competencies. The college experience however can be an especially stressful and lonely experience and the high rates of loneliness characterizing college students can undermine their social and emotional skill development and growth. We argue that the post-secondary campus is the last bastion for social and emotional learning (SEL) for youth and that high rates of loneliness inhibits students’ social and emotional growth. We argue too that SEL can decrease loneliness in college students and thus is a perplexing concept in so much that it can inhibit students’ engagement in developing their social and emotional competencies and yet, when they do engage in SEL, one potential known outcome is a reduction in loneliness. We begin by defining SEL including an overview of the five social and emotional competencies, examine college attendance trends, provide an examination of research illustrating rates of loneliness and its repercussions, explore illustrations of direct and indirect SEL interventions to bolster the social and emotional skills of youth, discuss how a lack of SEL undermines employment opportunities, and examine the role of technology in both easing and fostering loneliness. Impact Statement This paper raises awareness of the importance of the post-secondary context in affording rich and abundant opportunities for youth to hone their social and emotional learning. Undermining this however are high rates of loneliness characterizing college students that, in turn, robs students of opportunities to engage with others and practice key social and emotional skills that set them up for success in employment and life more broadly.