College students

College students who feel like they don’t belong may benefit from solitude if they autonomously seek alone-time. A short longitudinal research on Canadian and American students^[12] suggests that intrinsically motivated alone-time is linked to high self-esteem, a greater sense of relatedness, and lesser loneliness. The results of their study also showed that the positive effect of solitary time is more pronounced for students whose parents endorse and encourage independence. This supports the idea that spending time alone and wanting to be alone doesn’t necessarily point to mental health issues.