Loneliness and multiple health domains: associations among emerging adults

Abstract

Emerging adults (18–25 years), particularly racially/ethnically diverse and sexual and gender minority populations, may experience loneliness following major life transitions. How loneliness relates to health and health disparities during this developmental period is not well understood. We examine associations of loneliness with physical (self-rated health), behavioral (alcohol/marijuana consequences; nicotine dependence), and health behavior outcomes (weekday and weekend sleep; trouble sleeping), and investigate moderating effects by sex, race/ethnicity, and sexual/gender minority (SGM) status. Adjusted models using cross-sectional data from 2,534 emerging adults, predominantly in California, examined associations between loneliness and each outcome and tested interactions of loneliness with sex, race/ethnicity, and SGM status. Higher loneliness was significantly associated with worse self-rated health, higher marijuana consequences, less weekday sleep, and greater odds of feeling bothered by trouble sleeping. None of the interactions were significant. Findings suggest that interventions to reduce loneliness may help promote healthy development among emerging adults across subgroups. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10865-021-00267-1.

Predictors and Prevalence of Alcohol and Cannabis Co-use Among Filipino Adolescents: Evidence From a School-based Student Health Survey

“…The lack of a significant association between loneliness and substance co-use in our study marks a notable departure from findings reported in other regions [ 27 , 28 ]. This difference may be attributed to cultural variations in social relationships and coping strategies among Filipino adolescents.…”

Do Social Support and Loneliness Influence Emerging Adults’ Mental Health during the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic?

“…Similarly, loneliness predicted increases in sleep difficulties over time. The current study's results correspond to similar studies in which higher levels of loneliness were associated with poorer sleep quality in emerging adults during the COVID-19 pandemic [135]. According to Perez and colleagues (2022), the reasons for the relationship between loneliness and sleep difficulties may include those related to inflammation.…”

Psychometric Evaluation of Three Versions of the UCLA Loneliness Scale (Full, Eight-Item, and Three-Item Versions) among Sexual Minority Men in Taiwan

“…Fourth, both sexual minority stress and intraminority gay community stress may impair the functioning of their relationships and result in loneliness directly [2]. Loneliness has been identified as a risk factor for physical health problems [15][16][17], depression and anxiety [16], suicidal ideation [18], sleep disturbance [17], cannabis use [17] and sexual risk behaviors [19,20], among sexual-minority individuals.…”

“…Scrutinizing the psychometric evidence on the factor structure of the UCLA Loneliness Scale (Version 3), a bifactor structure (i.e., a general factor of loneliness with two method factors of positive wording and negative wording) has been supported (e.g., English version [37], Farsi version [38], Turkish version [39]). Moreover, some evidence shows that the UCLA Loneliness Scale (Version 3) has a unidimensional structure [17,18]. In brief, the full version of the UCLA Loneliness Scale (Version 3) can be viewed as having a unidimensional structure in relation to loneliness, but the unidimensional structure may be or may not be influenced by wording effects.…”