Economic Aspects of Loneliness in Australia

Abstract

We highlight the problem of loneliness, and argue that it is not only a public health issue but also an economic problem. We provide a brief review of findings from the key literature on the associations between loneliness, mental and physical health, and healthcare costs; and then present some evidence on its trends, the extent of socioeconomic inequalities and its links with health and healthcare usage, in Australia. We hope to encourage further economics research on loneliness, and related issues of social isolation and poor social support, to aid the design of policies and interventions to reduce loneliness.

Economic Gradients in Social Health in Britain

“…The raw correlations between the three social health measures at baseline are: lonely/social isolation = 0.080 for men, 0.065 for women; lonely/lack of social support = 0.173, 0.156; and social isolation/lack of social support = 0.112, 0.097). This is consistent with previous studies that have found that these correlations are modest (Kung et al 2021;Newall and Menec 2017). However, in our panel transitional model we explicitly allow for loneliness, social isolation and a lack of social support to be jointly determined (i.e.…”

“…Loneliness is also strongly associated with suicidal ideation and suicidal attempts, even after accounting for common mental disorders (Stickley and Koyanagi 2016). Consequently, there are substantive costs of loneliness to healthcare systems (Kung et al 2021;Mihalopoulos et al 2020). Loneliness is therefore becoming increasingly recognised as a major public health, demographic and economic issue that needs to be addressed.…”

“…lack of sleep). In addition, there are good grounds to think that loneliness might be strongly linked to socioeconomic status (Kung et al 2021). For instance, a lack of investment in children can hinder the development of the emotional skills necessary to seek out and maintain high quality social relationships (Qualter et al 2015).…”

“…Similarly, individuals residing in more deprived areas may have less access to public amenities that encourage social interaction, and high crime rates might deter social activities such as walking in the neighbourhood (Janke et al 2016). Additionally, financial stress is a major cause of marital separation leading to the loss of a fundamental intimate relationship (Kung et al 2021). Despite the extensive literature on most aspects of loneliness, with limited exceptions, the main focus in psychology, epidemiology and public health has not been on potential economic drivers.…”

“…living alone; not regularly meeting with family or friends; not a member of a club or society) of an individual's involvement in social relationships (Scharf and de Jong Gierveld 2008;Valtorta et al 2016). Importantly, evidence suggests that the correlation between measures of loneliness and social isolation are moderate (Kung et al 2021;Newall and Menec 2017). However, social isolation has also shown significant associations with mortality and poor health outcomes, even after accounting for loneliness (Ge et al 2017;Hakulinen et al 2018;Newall and Menec 2017;Shankar et al 2011;Steptoe et al 2013).…”