Abstract
BACKGROUND: The problems of students' social interaction and psychological well-being associated with online learning dependent on self-directed learning have become an important topic of research in recent years worldwide due to the COVID-19 pandemic, affecting their Social Emotional Learning. This paper aimed to compare the students' loneliness, social anxiety, social interaction, and general psychological well-being at different stages of online learning (at the beginning and the height of the pandemic), considering their criteria (presence/absence of a job and own family). METHODS: For this, the researchers conducted an electronic survey of students (n = 320) twice, in February and May 2020, using four questionnaires: UCLA loneliness scale-3, Social Anxiety Scale for E-Learning Environments, Social Interaction Scale, and Brief Adjustment Scale. The responses at different stages of online learning were compared using Student's t-test. Differences between employed and unemployed students with or without their own families were determined using the analysis of variance (ANOVA). RESULTS: The findings showed that unemployed students without their families suffered the most from loneliness. Social interaction online was rated higher by students with their own families; psychological well-being at the beginning of the distance period and social anxiety at the height of the distance period were higher among unemployed students. CONCLUSIONS: This research can become a theoretical basis for a phase-by-phase study of social predictors for the psychological well-being of higher education students and is of practical value for teachers and administrators of online learning aimed at students' socialization. In addition, it provides education officials with information about how students perceive psychological well-being, anxiety, social interaction, and loneliness during distance learning, which can help officials direct their decisions and reforms to improve interaction in the online environment.