title: Social support and loneliness in college students: effects on pulse pressure reactivity to acute stress.
abstract: Socially supportive relationships at university may buffer against psychological stress in students, particularly in those experiencing loneliness.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To examine the relation of social support at university and loneliness with pulse pressure (PP) reactivity to acute psychological stress in a sample of first-year undergraduate students.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixty-five female, adolescent, first-year university students.
  
  
  METHODS
  Pulse pressure (PP) was calculated as the arithmetic difference between systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure, which were measured during a resting baseline and during a stressful reading task. The difference between baseline and reading task PP represents PP reactivity. The Social Support at University Scale (SSUS) was used to assess social support availability in university, and the Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale was used to assess loneliness. Hierarchical linear regression was used to examine main and interactive effects of SSUS and loneliness on PP change scores, and simple slopes were computed to assist in the interpretation of interaction effects.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Social support at university was associated with lower PP reactivity in students reporting medium (t = -2.03, p = .04) or high levels of loneliness (t = -2.93, p = .004), but not in those reporting low levels of loneliness (t = -0.20, p = .83).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Psychosocial interventions designed to increase social support available at university, and targeted at students experiencing loneliness may buffer against the harmful effects of acute stressors in lonely first-year students.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health Research, St. Vincent's University Hospital, Elm Park, Dublin 4, Ireland. aoife.odonovan@ucd.ie
authors.forename: Aoife
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: O'Donovan
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hughes
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001794:Blood Pressure; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008132:Loneliness / Q000523:psychology*; D012944:Social Support; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D014495:Universities