The Prevalence of Loneliness Among Adults: A Case Study of the United Kingdom

By Christina Victor, Keming Yang. The Journal of psychology, 2012

655 citations recorded by the source corpus.

ABSTRACT Within contemporary Western (post) modern societies, loneliness is seen as a problem that is particularly associated with old age. Much less attention has been given to examining variations in loneliness across age groups. We examine patterns of loneliness across adults aged 15 years and older in the United Kingdom using data from the European Social Survey. We first consider the prevalence of loneliness among the adult population; then the relationship between loneliness and a range of key risk factors, and finally the relationship with age for each of our risk factors. Loneliness demonstrates a nonlinear U-shaped distribution, with those aged under 25 years and those aged over 65 years demonstrating the highest levels of loneliness. Depression is associated with loneliness for all age groups. Poor physical health is associated with loneliness in young adult and midlife but not later life. For those in mid and later life, the quality of social engagement is protective against loneliness, while for young adults it is the quantity of social engagement. This indicates that different factors may endow vulnerability (or protect) against loneliness at different stages of life and suggests that preventative strategies or interventions that reflect these variations need to be developed.

Subfields: General Health Professions, Health, Social Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/857add8891a0a54821c077803e50d506301d6b80

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In General Health Professions

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In Social Psychology

Citations in the corpus

Loneliness in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic: Cross-sectional results from the COVID-19 Psychological Wellbeing Study (2020, background): “Despite research showing that the relationship between age and loneliness is u-shaped [19,22], we found an inverse relationship between age and loneliness, with very high prevalence of loneliness in the younger age groups and very low rates of loneliness among the over65s.”
Loneliness and Social Isolation as Risk Factors for Mortality (2015, background): “…mounting evidence that social isolation and loneliness are increasing in society (McPherson & Smith-Lovin, 2006; Perissinotto, Stijacic Cenzer, & Covinsky, 2012; Victor & Yang, 2012; Wilson & Moulton, 2010), it seems prudent to add social isolation and loneliness to lists of public health concerns.”
Age differences in loneliness from late adolescence to oldest old age. (2016, background): “Another limitation of many previous studies is that age is treated as a categorical variable such that the respondents are grouped into different age groups (e.g., Victor & Yang, 2012).”
Loneliness and Social Internet Use: Pathways to Reconnection in a Digital World? (2018, background): “More than a quarter of U.K. adults report sometimes being lonely, and 6% of those report being lonely all or most of the time (Victor & Yang, 2012).”
Loneliness among older European adults: results from the survey of health, aging and retirement in Europe (2018, background): “5% in Great Britain (Thomas 2015; Victor and Bowling 2012; Victor and Yang 2012) and 10% to 25% in the United States (AARP 2010; Kuwert et al.”
Loneliness in the general population: prevalence, determinants and relations to mental health (2017, background): “Loneliness has been associated with many negative mental health outcomes [13, 14] such as depression, suicidality, reduced positive emotions, poor sleep quality and general health, as well as physiological changes (e.”
Vulnerability to loneliness in people with intellectual disability: an explanatory model (2014, background): “Older age is a time of increased loneliness in the general population (Victor & Yang, 2012).”
Associations between loneliness and perceived social support and outcomes of mental health problems: a systematic review (2018, background): “For people with depression, cross-sectional studies have found up to 40% of respondents feeling lonely most of the time [28], with a tenfold increase in the odds of being lonely compared to the general population [29].”
Loneliness: Clinical Import and Interventions (2015, background): “Over the past 40 years, loneliness has also become more widespread overseas (e.g., Randall, 2012; Stickley et al., 2013; Victor, Scambler, Bowling, & Bond, 2005; Victor & Yang, 2012).”