Dataset Information

Identifying characteristics of adolescents with persistent loneliness during COVID-19: A multi-country eight-wave longitudinal study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Elevated loneliness experiences characterise young people. While loneliness at this developmental juncture may emerge from age-typical upheaval in social relationships, there is little data on the extent to which young people experience high and persistent levels of loneliness, and importantly, who is most vulnerable to these experiences. Using the widespread social restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, which precipitated loneliness in many, we aimed to examine adolescents' loneliness profiles across time and the demographic predictors (age, sex, and country) of more severe trajectories.

Methods

Participants aged 12-18 years, recruited into a multi-wave study (N = 1039) across three sites (UK, Israel, and India) completed a 3-item loneliness measure fortnightly across 8 timepoints during the pandemic.

Results

Latent class growth analysis suggested 5 distinct trajectories: (1) low stable (33%), (2) low increasing (19%), (3) moderate decreasing (17%), (4) moderate stable (23%), and (5) high increasing (8%). Females and older adolescents were more likely to experience persistently high loneliness.

Conclusions

These findings indicate a need for interventions to reduce loneliness in adolescents as we emerge from the pandemic, particularly for those groups identified as being at highest risk.

SUBMITTER: Riddleston L

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10933679 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Identifying characteristics of adolescents with persistent loneliness during COVID-19: A multi-country eight-wave longitudinal study.

Riddleston Laura L Shukla Meenakshi M Lavi Iris I Saglio Eloise E Fuhrmann Delia D Pandey Rakesh R Singh Tushar T Qualter Pamela P Lau Jennifer Y F JYF

JCPP advances 20231108 1

<h4>Background</h4>Elevated loneliness experiences characterise young people. While loneliness at this developmental juncture may emerge from age-typical upheaval in social relationships, there is little data on the extent to which young people experience high and persistent levels of loneliness, and importantly, who is most vulnerable to these experiences. Using the widespread social restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, which precipitated loneliness in many, we aimed to examine a ...[more]

PMID: 38486960

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Dataset Information

Identifying characteristics of adolescents with persistent loneliness during COVID-19: A multi-country eight-wave longitudinal study.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Identifying characteristics of adolescents with persistent loneliness during COVID-19: A multi-country eight-wave longitudinal study.

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