Loneliness and its association with psychological and somatic health problems among Czech, Russian and U.S. adolescents

Abstract

BackgroundLoneliness is common in adolescence and has been linked to various negative outcomes. Until now, however, there has been little cross-country research on this phenomenon. The aim of the present study was to examine which factors are associated with adolescent loneliness in three countries that differ historically and culturally-the Czech Republic, Russia and the United States, and to determine whether adolescent loneliness is associated with poorer psychological and somatic health.MethodsData from a school survey, the Social and Health Assessment (SAHA), were used to examine these relations among 2205 Czech, 1995 Russian, and 2050 U.S. male and female adolescents aged 13 to 15 years old. Logistic regression analysis was performed to examine if specific demographic, parenting, personal or school-based factors were linked to feeling lonely and whether lonely adolescents were more likely to report psychological (depression and anxiety) or somatic symptoms (e.g. headaches, pain).ResultsInconsistent parenting, shyness, and peer victimisation were associated with higher odds for loneliness in at least 4 of the 6 country- and sex-wise subgroups (i.e. Czech, Russian, U.S. boys and girls). Parental warmth was a protective factor against feeling lonely among Czech and U.S. girls. Adolescents who were lonely had higher odds for reporting headaches, anxiety and depressive symptoms across all subgroups. Loneliness was associated with other somatic symptoms in at least half of the adolescent subgroups.ConclusionLoneliness is associated with worse adolescent health across countries. The finding that variables from different domains are important for loneliness highlights the necessity of interventions in different settings in order to reduce loneliness and its detrimental effects on adolescent health.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12888-016-0829-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Loneliness and Health Risk Behaviors Among ASEAN Adolescents

“…These mixed findings have been confirmed in some previous studies (6,9). In agreement with previous studies (7)(8)(9), this study found that peer victimization, having fewer close friends, and lack of parental or guardian support were associated with loneliness. Peer or bullying victimization may be related to loneliness because of its effects on poor friendship formation (7,21).…”

“…In agreement with previous studies (7)(8)(9), this study found that peer victimization, having fewer close friends, and lack of parental or guardian support were associated with loneliness. Peer or bullying victimization may be related to loneliness because of its effects on poor friendship formation (7,21). The finding that having a close friend was a protective factor against loneliness may be explained by the important role of close friends in providing social interaction and support (7).…”

“…The details and the dataset of the GSHS can be accessed online (16). A two-stage cluster sample design was used to collect data to represent all students in Grades 6,7,8,9, and 10 in each country (16). At the first stage of sampling, schools were selected with probability proportional to their reported enrolment size (16).…”

“…Hence, the current study will examine loneliness and its association with various adolescents' health risk behaviours. Being lonely has been found to be associated with anxiety, depressive symptoms, low self-esteem, perceived stress (7,10), suicidal ideation (11), and psychiatric morbidity (10). Moreover, loneliness was found to be associated with alcohol use, binge drinking, smoking, and illicit drug use (2,3).…”

“…Sociodemographic factors include older adolescents (1,6), gender, and poverty (1). Peer factors include peer victimization (7,8), having fewer close friends (8), and experiencing poor-quality friendships (8). Family factors include various forms of lack of parental support such as inconsistent parenting and lack of parental warmth (7), and lack of intimacy, and conflict with parents (9).…”