Adolescent Loneliness and Health in Early Adulthood

Abstract

The health consequence of loneliness in the early life course is an understudied topic in the sociological literature. Using data from Waves 1–3 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we examine pre‐disease pathways in the relationship between adolescent loneliness and early adult health. Our results indicate that loneliness during adolescence is associated with diagnosed depression, poorer adult self‐rated health, and metabolic risk factors related to cardiovascular disease. High depressive symptoms and parent support are important pathways through which the health consequences of loneliness are exacerbated or offset. There is also evidence that lonely youth remain at higher risk for experiencing adult depression and poor self‐rated health even in the presence of equivalent levels of parental support relative to non‐lonely adolescents. Furthermore, lonely adolescent females are more vulnerable to reporting poor adult self‐rated health and being overweight or obese in adulthood. In sum, our study demonstrates the importance of adolescent loneliness for elevating the risk of poor health outcomes in adulthood.

Perceived social isolation, evolutionary fitness and health outcomes: a lifespan approach

“…BMI, systolic blood pressure, cholesterol levels, glycated haemoglobin concentration, maximum oxygen consumption). Similarly, Goosby et al [34] found that loneliness in adolescence predicted a greater risk for high cholesterol, high blood pressure and overweight/obesity in young adulthood. The effect of loneliness on these metabolic risk factors was shown to be explained in part by depression and low parental support in adolescence.…”

“…poorer general health [27]; more somatic symptoms [28] ! poorer general health [32,51]; see also [28,34] ! poorer general health [33,34] !…”

“…poorer general health [32,51]; see also [28,34] ! poorer general health [33,34] ! poorer general health [52,53] healthcare utilization !…”

“…loneliness and low parental support in Waves 1 and 2, romantic relationship instability and intimate partner violence in Wave 3, loss/ bereavement between Waves 1 and 3) elicited a dose response such that Wave 3 depressive symptoms increased by 0.07, 0.28, 0.42 and 0.44 s.d.s with one, two, three and four or more relationship risks, respectively, after controlling for baseline health, health behaviours and demographic variables. Goosby et al [34] found that loneliness in Wave 1 increased the odds in Wave 3 of reporting enough depressive symptoms to warrant being classified as clinically depressed after controlling for demographic covariates and depressive symptoms in Wave 2. Vanhalst et al [35] used a loneliness trajectory approach from age 15 to 20 years and found that depressive symptoms at age 20 were significantly higher in the chronically high loneliness group relative to the high and moderate decreasing, low increasing and stable low loneliness groups.…”

“…Loneliness combined additively with other adverse relationship experiences between adolescence and young adulthood to increase the odds of reporting poor physical health in young adulthood [33]. Examined individually, loneliness in adolescence was sufficient to significantly increase risk for fair or poor self-rated health in young adults [34]. Loneliness has also been associated with increased use of a hospital emergency department, even though baseline chronic illness and illness severity did not differ as a function of loneliness [54].…”