Loneliness and self-harm in adolescents during the first national COVID-19 lockdown: results from a survey of 10,000 secondary school pupils in England

Abstract

Adolescents’ loneliness and self-harm have received considerable attention during the COVID-19 pandemic with concerns that the socioecological changes taking place would contribute to an escalation of both loneliness and self-harm. However, empirical evidence is scant. We estimated the prevalence of loneliness and self-harm in adolescent school pupils and investigated the association of loneliness and change in loneliness during the UK’s first lockdown with self-harm during lockdown in a cross-sectional school survey (OxWell) involving 10,460 12–18-year-olds from south England. Loneliness was measured with four items. Self-harm was ascertained through a detailed questionnaire. The prevalence of loneliness and self-harm were estimated applying post-stratification weights to account for differences between the study sample and the target population. The associations between indicators of loneliness and self-harm were examined using mixed effect models. 1,896 of 10,460 adolescents (18.1%) reported feeling lonely ‘often’ (weighted proportion 16.8%). 3,802/10,460 (36.4%; weighted proportion 35%) felt more lonely since lockdown. Self-harm during lockdown was reported by 787/10,460 adolescents (7.5%; weighted proportion 6.7%). Controlling for confounders, adolescents who reported feeling lonely ‘often’ [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 2.8, 95% CI 2.1–3.9, p < 0.0001] or ‘sometimes’ (aOR 2.2, 95% CI 1.5–3.2, p < 0.0001) were more likely to self-harm during lockdown relative to adolescents who reported ‘never’ or ‘hardly ever’ feeling lonely. Exacerbation in loneliness during lockdown was associated with an increase in the odds of self-harm during lockdown. Loneliness, heightened loneliness and self-harm were common during lockdown and closely linked. It is important to support schools in address loneliness and self-harm as part of efforts to improve well-being as the long tail of the pandemic continues to impact on child and adolescent mental health. Understanding how loneliness and self-harm may co-vary could be important for future self-harm reduction strategies in young persons.

Balancing burdens of infection control: Norwegian district medical officers’ ethical challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…The Public Health Report for 2021 argued that in Norway, a large part of the health consequences was likely to be caused by the infection control measures themselves [ 5 ]. For instance, the harm caused to schoolchildren by school closures was a significant worry for many of the DMOs, yet one that could hardly be quantified at the time decisions were made [ 25 , 26 ] [ 5 , 27 – 29 ]. Norway closed all primary-, lower secondary- and upper secondary schools in March 2020 for about 6–8 weeks.…”

Time Spent Gaming, Device Type, Addiction Scores, and Well-being of Adolescent English Gamers in the 2021 OxWell Survey: Latent Profile Analysis

“…Participants were also asked about school-related experiences and activities, including whether they felt a sense of belonging to the school community and how easy they found it to make and keep friends; experiences of school detention, aggressive behaviors, and bullying; and exercise frequency, as well as potential family risk factors, including whether they felt safe in the place they live, food poverty as a proxy for deprivation, and experiences of child abuse. Finally, a few different aspects of mental ill-health were examined, including anxiety and depression measured using the 25-item Revised Children's Anxiety and Depression Scale [48], insomnia measured using the 2-item version of the Sleep Condition Indicator [49], loneliness based on the 3-item version of the UCLA Loneliness Scale [50,51], and lifetime self-harm [52,53]. Full details of the measures used as predictor variables in the study are provided in Table S2 in Multimedia Appendix 1 [48][49][50][51] and the preregistration for this analysis [40].…”

The Effect of Loneliness on Non-Suicidal Self-Injury Behavior in Chinese Junior High School Adolescents: A Moderated Mediation Model

“… 2 Simultaneously, adolescence is additionally a period of high incidences of loneliness among adolescents. A cross-sectional study from England found that 18.1% of adolescents aged 12–18 reported having felt lonely “often” 3 Loneliness is an unpleasant and distressing subjective experience or psychological feeling. 4 , 5 During a lonely state, individuals not only exhibit the subjective state of social isolation, but additionally go through the painful experience of non-acceptance caused by their perception of isolation or lack of contact with others.…”

“…48 In consideration, adolescents’ peers and friends are key sources of support for their mental health problems and NSSI. 3 , 49 When adolescents’ social support networks are disrupted, additional risk factors may increase their NSSI and suicidal behavior. 47 In contrast, positive social relationships and social connection may assist them in reducing these behaviors.…”