Student Social Connection Scale (Expectation / Experience): Development and Validation Dataset, 2023-2024

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This dataset contains quantitative data generated during the development and validation of the Student Social Connection Scale (Expectation / Experience), a psychometric measure designed to assess university students’ expectations for social connection and their subsequent experiences of social connection during university. The data were collected as part of a programme of research examining how social expectations and experiences relate to student loneliness and sense of belonging in UK higher education. The dataset brings together data from multiple stages of scale development and evaluation, including large-scale survey administrations used for item generation, item reduction, factor analysis, and validation. It includes responses to an initial pool of candidate items, intermediate versions of the scale, and the final validated 9-item Student Social Connection Scale – Expectation. Parallel items forming the Student Social Connection Scale – Experience were administered at follow-up, enabling longitudinal analysis of expectation–experience discrepancies. Responses were recorded using Likert-type rating scales. In addition to the scale items, the dataset includes anonymised demographic variables and validated comparator measures used to assess reliability and validity, including brief measures of loneliness and sense of belonging. Pseudonymous participant identifiers enable linkage of responses across time points while preserving anonymity. The data support a wide range of secondary analyses, including psychometric evaluation, scale refinement, measurement invariance testing, and longitudinal modelling of social connection, belonging, and loneliness. The dataset is suitable for reuse by researchers interested in student mental health, social connection, transition to university, and psychometric scale development. All data have been anonymised prior to deposit. No direct identifiers or free-text responses are included. The dataset is accompanied by detailed documentation, including a comprehensive codebook describing item wording, response options, scale construction, scoring procedures, and wave availability, supporting transparent and reproducible secondary analysis.

Loneliness is linked to poor mental health and reduced educational achievement and social mobility. It is often thought of as something experienced by the elderly. However, loneliness is a growing concern among university students. Recent studies have found that young people report high levels of loneliness. This seems puzzling. University students are surrounded by peers. They often live with friends and have many opportunities to socialise. Why would they feel lonely? Addressing this question, we will develop the concept of loneliness. We will work with young people to represent the adolescent experience accurately and sensitively. We will work with students across the project, making co-creation a priority. We will identify opportunities to reduce loneliness in university students. There are 1.7million adolescents in UK universities. As many in 2 in 5 students may meet criteria for mental illness. Increasingly, this is a cause for concern. Universities are looking for ways to support student mental health. Students are at a developmental transition and experience dramatic changes in social networks, creating risk for loneliness. However, if properly understood, loneliness may be reduced, providing a target to boost mental health and educational achievement. New interventions depend on a strong theoretical framework and researchers need suitable tools to measure loneliness. We can all describe loneliness. The COVID-19 lockdowns gave many people new insights into the experience of loneliness. However, understanding of the concept, especially in young people, is limited. Historical analysis can help. We will explore when and how the idea of university as a social experience emerged. This will provide a broader social and cultural context to understand loneliness. We will make it easier to measure loneliness sensitively. Loneliness is often assessed using a single question: "how often do you feel lonely?" This cannot identify differences in origin or experience. It does not capture how loneliness relates to social connection, sense of belonging or expectations. We will investigate these links and develop new tools to allow differences in loneliness to be understood. We will look at how social contacts change as young people move to university and ask if these changes cause loneliness. To do this, we will make use of the rich, but under-used, Social Network Analysis. Because this approach is under-used, we will develop simplified resources to help the others capture key insights in surveys. We will develop a new measurement tool to assess expectations of social connection. We will use this to identify differences in student's expectations for social connection and ask how these expectations impact the experience of loneliness. Students often describe belonging as the opposite of loneliness. Do students lack a of sense of belonging? Does this drive loneliness? We will test whether a sense of belonging helps us understand loneliness, over and above social networks and expectations for social connection. We will explore how the group dynamics that support a sense of belonging, especially for minority groups, may influence loneliness. Social identity influences our sense of belonging. Therefore, in looking at belonging, as well as social connection and expectations, the diversity of the student population is key. Across our research we aim to understand the broad diversity of student experience and how this shapes differences in the experience of loneliness. We will develop a rich and detailed theoretical framework for loneliness. We will test whether there are different types of loneliness and examine how diverse social identities shape the experience of loneliness. The project will develop new tools to facilitate future research into loneliness. Through prioritising co-creation, we will address barriers to engagement and create resources and guidance to accelerate student involvement in research.