Young Adults’ Experience of Loneliness in London’s Most Deprived Areas

Abstract

Young adults (16–24 years old) are currently the loneliest group in Western countries. In particular, young adults of lower socio-economic status (SES) living in the most deprived areas are loneliest in the United Kingdom. This mixed-methods study explored the experience of loneliness among this under-explored demographic in London. Using a novel free association technique, the experience of loneliness was found to be characterized by: a sense of isolation, negative emotions and thoughts, coping and a positive orientation to aloneness. An exploration of these themes revealed that: one can feel isolated or excluded even when surrounded by people; the experience of loneliness is accompanied by a set of interrelated feelings and thoughts like rumination; and technological and/or non-technological outlets can be used to cope. Social media play both a positive and negative role in loneliness, and loneliness is not always experienced negatively. The quantitative data indicated that this sample was lonely. By providing insight into young adults’ loneliness, the findings indicate what types of interventions are likely to diminish it.

Dynamics of Loneliness Among Older Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Pilot Study of Ecological Momentary Assessment With Network Analysis

“…The finding that loneliness is associated with negative emotions and diminished happiness is not surprising and is consistent with other studies (41)(42)(43), and during the lockdown in particular (30). A potentially novel finding through network models applied to EMA data is that at least some older people may have coped with momentary experiences of loneliness by actively seeking outdoor activity.…”

The causes of loneliness: The perspective of young adults in London’s most deprived areas

“…A complementary study of the same dataset examined the experience of loneliness in young adults [ 38 ].…”

“…Of course, how the world presents itself to young adults is shaped in large part by the social media and this is worthy of depth exploration. In addition, there are no studies of how lower socioeconomic status and loneliness may be interlinked (other than our earlier work, see [ 38 ]), beyond the lack of funds preventing participation in certain activities. Phenomenological exploration can offer insight into this link.…”

“…In one study, on days when people used social media often, they were less likely to engage in in-person social interactions but, at the between-person analysis, those who spent a large portion of their time on social media did not engage less in face-to-face interactions than those who refrained from it [ 37 ]. Longitudinal studies, meta-analyses, mixed-methods, and qualitative research show either small, weak or no support for the association between the quantity of social media use and increases in loneliness among student samples and all age groups [ 38 – 42 ]. What these studies suggest is that the quality of social media use rather than quantity may better determine its impact on loneliness.…”

“…Therefore, the current study aimed to conduct an in-depth qualitative analysis of the subjective cause of loneliness among this demographic specifically. Since the sample identified with these characteristics and circumstances has recently shown to be a lonely demographic [ 38 ], it is imperative to understand the causes of their loneliness; this will then aid the design of targeted interventions to diminish loneliness in this group. Furthermore, since social media have become a major part of young adults’ social lives [ 52 ], and the literature contains contradictory findings regarding its impact on loneliness, the present study also set out to examine the subjective role of social media on young adults’ sense of loneliness.…”