Factors that contribute to unwanted loneliness in young people
That unwanted loneliness is increasingly prevalent is nothing new. It's a growing concern, particularly affecting two groups: young people and the elderly. The State Observatory of Unwanted Loneliness has published an extensive study to better understand the current situation regarding unwanted loneliness among young people , what socioeconomic, personal, educational, and professional factors contribute to this feeling, and what measures can be implemented to reverse this trend.
The study surveyed 1,800 people between the ages of 16 and 29, providing a very detailed snapshot. Regarding prevalence , the findings reveal that one in four young people in Spain feels lonely , with the highest incidence among those aged 21 to 26, and particularly among women. This is not a temporary phenomenon, as nearly half of the young people who currently feel lonely have been experiencing this loneliness for more than three years (45.7%).
Loneliness is a subjective perception , related to a mismatch between the quantity and quality of social relationships a person has and those they would like to have. This perception can be compounded by social isolation , an objective state that does not depend on personal perception and is related to the absence of a support network. Youth loneliness is a multi-causal phenomenon influenced by a considerable variety of factors that can contribute to it.
What factors contribute to unwanted loneliness in young people?
The quantity and quality of social relationships is a determining factor in explaining unwanted loneliness among young people, especially that related to friendships . Having fewer friendships than desired is a significant factor that increases the likelihood of experiencing unwanted loneliness.
than any other group, by 4.7 times. In contrast, the number of relationships with family is not a significant factor in loneliness, but their quality is, as is the quality of friendships. It's not so much about having people to turn to, since the vast majority (90.1%) of people who feel lonely can rely on someone in case of problems, a percentage not much lower than that of people who do not feel lonely (97.2%).
However, the study reveals that the quantity and quality of social relationships is not the only factor that explains this phenomenon.
Let's see what other factors influence this:
Knowing how to communicate to others what you feel or need.
Young people themselves consider social skills and trust in others to be important. However, these social difficulties are often related to traumatic experiences that undermine trust in others, such as bullying at school or in the workplace . The percentage of people who have experienced bullying at school or in the workplace at some point in their lives is almost twice as high among young people who experience unwanted loneliness (58.1% have experienced bullying) as among young people who do not (32.1% have experienced bullying).
Living in a digital society.
The digital world has changed how society interacts, especially among younger generations. While the study concludes that there is no discernible difference between the frequency of social media use and unwanted loneliness, it does indicate that face-to-face relationships are more frequent among young people who do not experience loneliness (79.8%) than among those who do (55.9%), and that young people whose friendships are primarily online or long-distance are twice as likely to experience unwanted loneliness. Therefore, face-to-face interaction emerges as a key protective factor.
How social media pressure affects our emotional well-being
Educational level and social position.
Intersectional factors directly impact people's mental health. In the case of unwanted loneliness, the data collected also reflect the importance of these structural and personal factors.
At the educational level , young people with a university education experience the lowest levels of loneliness. Having repeated a grade at some point is associated with unwanted loneliness: young people who have repeated a grade at some point experience a prevalence of unwanted loneliness 10 percentage points higher than those who have not (31.0% vs. 21.3%). A relationship is also observed with early school leaving and low academic performance. However, the study's multivariate analysis shows that academic performance is not significant in explaining loneliness.
At the workplace level, the study shows that unemployed people are more likely to suffer unwanted loneliness, five points higher than people who study or work.
But the strongest correlation is with poverty: the prevalence of unwanted loneliness among young people from economically disadvantaged households is almost double that of young people from households that easily make ends meet (36% versus 19.4%). In fact, multivariate analysis considers the relationship between poverty and loneliness to be significant.
Housing. The study finds no correlation between leaving the parental home and loneliness, as there are few differences between young people who have left their parents' home and those who haven't, although those living with family experience a lower rate of loneliness. Living environment does influence the perception of loneliness, with young people residing in medium-sized municipalities (between 20,000 and 100,000 inhabitants) showing a higher prevalence (29.8%) compared to young people in large urban centers with more than 100,000 inhabitants (27.9%).
Health. Young people who suffer from unwanted loneliness report a worse self-perception of their health than those who do not. Among young people who experience loneliness, slightly more than half (52.4%) rate their health as very poor, poor, or fair, compared to 21.9% among young people who do not experience loneliness. Young people who also have a mental health problem feel even more alone.
People with perceived or diagnosed mental health problems are 2.5 times more likely to suffer unwanted loneliness, and people who perceive that they suffer from anxiety or depression are 89.2% more likely.
Unwanted loneliness is also associated with anxiety and depression, and it severely impacts a person's self-esteem. Unwanted loneliness is also linked to a higher prevalence of self-harming thoughts and behaviors, which are 2.5 to 3 times more frequent among young people experiencing unwanted loneliness than among those who do not. Suicidal thoughts affect half (50.5%) of young people who feel lonely.
Discrimination . Some youth groups are especially vulnerable to stigma and discrimination, a factor that impacts the prevalence of unwanted loneliness. This is the case for young people with disabilities —more than half of young people (54.2%) with disabilities experience unwanted loneliness—and for young people in the LGBTQ+ community—with a prevalence almost double that of heterosexual youth (39.7% versus 22.7%); or for people born abroad or whose parents were born abroad, with a prevalence 41% higher than that of young people born in Spain.
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