Abstract
Loneliness - when our need for social and emotional connection is unmet - is universal. Young people are particularly vulnerable with international samples suggesting peaks between ages 16-24. However, loneliness does not affect all young people equally. Marginalisation of low socio-economic status groups puts them at greater risk. Over one in five people in the UK alone are currently in poverty. The exclusionary nature of loneliness is apparent in qualitative research, but how interpersonal exclusion, loneliness, and socio-economic marginalisation interrelate in youth remains unclear. We used UK Household Longitudinal Survey data from participants aged 16-24 years (N = 2543). We conducted network analysis to assess item-level relationships. Specifically, how different facets of loneliness were associated with different facets of social connection (age 16-24) and past interpersonal exclusion (age 10-15), and how this differed depending on socio-economic marginalisation. We found a complex interplay between interpersonal exclusion, loneliness and social connection. Past experiences of bullying, talking about worries with family and friends, relying on friends were central to networks. The positive relationships between feeling left out and feeling more isolated, as well as feeling let down by family and feeling let down by friends, were stronger in the high socio-economic marginalisation group compared to the low. This group was populated with more adolescents from Asian and Black ethnicity groups, living with parents and reporting higher rates of more severe bullying aged 10-15 years. Our findings shows that even in late adolescence, family relationships as well as past bullying experiences are central to networks of loneliness and social connection. Some relationships were stronger among those facing great socio-economic marginalisation, highlighting the role of both individual and structural factors in youth loneliness and social connection.
Key messages
• Past experiences of bullying as well as current family relationships remain central to loneliness and social connection even in late adolescence.
• Youth facing socio-economic marginalisation experience stronger links between social connection and loneliness.