Lonely young adults in modern Britain: findings from an epidemiological cohort study

Abstract

Background. The aim of this study was to build a detailed, integrative profile of the correlates of young adults' feelings of loneliness, in terms of their current health and functioning and their childhood experiences and circumstances. Methods. Data were drawn from the Environmental Risk Longitudinal Twin Study, a birth cohort of 2232 individuals born in England and Wales in 1994 and 1995. Loneliness was measured when participants were aged 18. Regression analyses were used to test concurrent associations between loneliness and health and functioning in young adulthood. Longitudinal analyses were conducted to examine childhood factors associated with young adult loneliness. Results. Lonelier young adults were more likely to experience mental health problems, to engage in physical health risk behaviours, and to use more negative strategies to cope with stress. They were less confident in their employment prospects and were more likely to be out of work. Lonelier young adults were, as children, more likely to have had mental health difficulties and to have experienced bullying and social isolation. Loneliness was evenly distributed across genders and socioeconomic backgrounds. Conclusions. Young adults' experience of loneliness co-occurs with a diverse range of problems, with potential implications for health in later life. The findings underscore the importance of early intervention to prevent lonely young adults from being trapped in loneliness as they age.

The Need for Additional Mental Health Support for Women in the Postpartum Period in the Times of Epidemic Crisis

“…However now, during COVID-19 pandemic, new mothers are deprived of their social network. According to the British Academy of Medical Science, major adverse consequences of the epidemic crisis are increased social isolation and loneliness [22], which are strongly associated with anxiety, depression, self-harm, and suicide attempts across the lifespan [23,24]. The aggravated depressive symptoms during global epidemic crisis can thus be caused directly -by concerns about exposure to COVID-19 (an additional strong and widespread stressor) but also indirectly: negative mental state can get worse along with restrictions introduced by many countries e.g.…”

Validation and Psychometric Evaluation of the Italian Version of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale

“…In turn, other psychological disorders such as anxiety and depression have been found associated with fear in previous epidemics, further affecting people's quality of life negatively (e.g., Ford et al 2018;Huang et al 2020). Such consequences appear to be particularly relevant in the context of the present pandemic because social isolation (in this case, resulting from mandatory social distancing policies issued by governments) has been previously shown to be strongly intertwined with anxiety and depression symptoms in both younger and older populations (e.g., Matthews et al 2019;Santini et al 2020).…”

The experience of loneliness among young people with depression: a qualitative meta-synthesis of the literature

“…It is possible that early experience of unreliable and unresponsive attachment gures can lead to insecure attachment perceptions, including a lack of trust, low selfesteem and di culties with affect regulation and intimacy (62). This is supported by evidence that lonely young adults are more likely to have been bullied and socially isolated as children (17) and that securely attached adolescents report more emotionally close friendships and greater social acceptance by peers than insecurely attached peers (62). Such work suggests that early parenting interventions to improve attachment have the potential to prevent loneliness and depression (64), although this requires formal testing.…”

“…The few studies that have been done in young people suggest that social isolation in childhood predicts loneliness in young adulthood (17) and that chronic peer-related loneliness in childhood predicts adolescent depression (18)(19)(20). Given the evidence from studies of older age groups, loneliness is likely to be a factor affecting quality of life and prognosis among young people with depression.…”

“…Behavioural genetic analysis nds that young people who are lonely are often depressed, partly because the same genes in uence loneliness and depression (28). Environmental factors are also important; lonely young adults are more likely to have been bullied and socially isolated as children (17). The distinction between loneliness and social isolation is important because socially isolated young adults do not necessarily feel lonely (28) and young adults who feel lonely do not necessarily spend less time with others in comparison to their less lonely peers (30).…”