Dataset Information

Loneliness in young people: a multilevel exploration of social ecological influences and geographic variation.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Loneliness is a growing public health concern, yet little is known about loneliness in young people. The current study aimed to identify social ecological factors related to loneliness and examine the extent to which geographic region may account for differences in loneliness.

Methods

The data come from a cross-sectional sample of 6503 young people living in the UK. Loneliness was measured using the UCLA 3-item scale. Bivariate analyses were used to test associations between each predictor and loneliness. Multilevel models were used to identify key social ecological factors related to loneliness, and the extent to which loneliness may vary across geographic regions (local authority districts).

Results

Sociodemographic, social, health and well-being, and community factors were found to be associated with loneliness. Geographic region was associated with 5-8% of the variation in loneliness. The effect of gender, sexual orientation and minority ethnic background on loneliness differed across regions.

Conclusions

This is the first study to highlight modifiable social and community factors related to youth loneliness, and individual vulnerabilities, such as poor mental well-being. Results related to geographic differences suggest that local-level initiatives may be most appropriate in tackling loneliness, rather than wider, less contextualized national efforts.

SUBMITTER: Marquez J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10017088 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Loneliness in young people: a multilevel exploration of social ecological influences and geographic variation.

Marquez J J Goodfellow C C Hardoon D D Inchley J J Leyland A H AH Qualter P P Simpson S A SA Long E E

Journal of public health (Oxford, England) 20230301 1

<h4>Background</h4>Loneliness is a growing public health concern, yet little is known about loneliness in young people. The current study aimed to identify social ecological factors related to loneliness and examine the extent to which geographic region may account for differences in loneliness.<h4>Methods</h4>The data come from a cross-sectional sample of 6503 young people living in the UK. Loneliness was measured using the UCLA 3-item scale. Bivariate analyses were used to test associations be ...[more]

PMID: 34999845

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Project description:Loneliness is associated with a myriad of detrimental outcomes in mental and physical health. Previous studies have found that people with schizophrenia report greater loneliness than controls, and that loneliness is related to depressive symptoms. However, research has been limited, particularly regarding contributions of loneliness to social and occupational functioning. Further, few studies have examined associations between loneliness and daily experience in schizophrenia. Thus, we recruited 35 individuals with schizophrenia and 37 controls. All participants completed the UCLA loneliness scale, symptom assessments, and measures of social and occupational functioning. Additionally, participants with schizophrenia completed an ecological momentary assessment (EMA) protocol that indexed daily social and emotional experiences, including loneliness. Similar to previous reports, we found that those with schizophrenia reported greater loneliness than controls. Further, loneliness was positively associated with depressive and negative symptoms, and negatively associated with self-reported social functioning. Interestingly, loneliness remained a significant predictor of functioning even when controlling for other symptoms, suggesting that severity of depressive and negative symptoms cannot fully explain the relationship between loneliness and functioning. In our EMA analyses, loneliness did not significantly differ when individuals were alone versus with others, underscoring the notion that being alone is not the same as feeling lonely. However, self-reported engagement during social interactions was negatively associated with loneliness, at a trend-level, suggesting that quality of social interactions is a potentially important consideration. Taken together, these findings suggest that loneliness is an important treatment target and provide understanding for how loneliness may manifest in daily life in schizophrenia. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Project description:BackgroundLoneliness has been recognized as a public health issue and has moved into a number of European countries' policy agendas. Literature examining loneliness in young people (and especially in adolescents) is scarce, but it does show that at this age feelings of loneliness have been increasing in recent decades and are detrimental for both adolescents' current and future well-being. In order to explain loneliness, current literature focuses generally on individual, rather than on broader, environmental characteristics. This study examines school associates of loneliness and compares their importance to those at the individual level because schools are the most important places in which adolescents are socially embedded. In addition, policy interventions on loneliness might be more feasible at the school than the individual level.MethodsThis study uses a single-item measure of adolescents' loneliness feelings in schools and exploits rich data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA 2018) on 23 European countries covering 118,698 students (50.2% female) in 4,819 schools. This study applies multi-level models to investigate school level factors jointly with those at the individual level.ResultsDifferences between European schools can explain a 20% variation in feelings of loneliness, thereby indicating the importance of the school environment. Furthermore, adolescents' bullying experiences and a bullying climate in school more than doubles incidences of loneliness. In addition, a cooperative climate as well as teacher support can considerably decrease school loneliness. Cross-level interactions do exist: being from a lower socioeconomic background for instance, while not important generally, increases loneliness feelings if most of the school peers are from a better socioeconomic background. School factors appear to be more important for explaining young people's loneliness incidence than individual characteristics.ConclusionThis is the first study to compare school level and individual level factors relating to youth loneliness in schools throughout Europe. Results emphasizing the importance of school environment for explaining adolescents' loneliness suggest that school level initiatives may be most appropriate in tackling loneliness when compared to wider and less contextualized national policies that focus on adolescents outside of school.

Dataset Information

Loneliness in young people: a multilevel exploration of social ecological influences and geographic variation.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Loneliness in young people: a multilevel exploration of social ecological influences and geographic variation.

Similar Datasets

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