UNITE: Understanding individual and social pathways to loneliness in young people from socio-economically marginalised backgrounds

Loneliness is the unwelcome feeling of social isolation. While research and policy have focussed mainly on loneliness in the elderly, loneliness is more common in youth than in other age groups and has become more common still during the COVID-19 pandemic. The UK government estimates that 11% of young people feel lonely often or always, and 26% feel lonely at least sometimes.

Research has shown that youth loneliness disrupts education and employment. Loneliness is estimated to cost UK employers £2.5 billion per year. It also links to depression, anxiety, impaired immunity, and premature death.

Some members of society experience loneliness more severely than others. Research in adults shows that socio-economic marginalisation (characterized by poverty and lack of educational and occupational opportunities) doubles the occurrence of loneliness.

Taken together, these findings suggest that young people from socio-economically marginalised backgrounds may be particularly at risk of loneliness and its adverse outcomes. Yet, their experiences, and how and why they suffer from loneliness is poorly understood. To tackle this gap in our knowledge, we will use a multi-study, multi-methods approach:

In Study 1, we will track the development of loneliness in young people from socio-economically marginalised backgrounds. We will investigate the role of candidate social pathways to loneliness: peer and family relationships and neighbourhood characteristics, and how these affect loneliness trajectories in large-scale population-wide datasets that are diverse and representative. This will provide insights into actionable targets for intervention studies.

In Study 2, we will explore potential cognitive pathways to loneliness in young people who have experienced socio-economic marginalisation. We will use interviews to probe in-depth information on relationships between lived experiences of marginalisation and candidate cognitive factors that maintain loneliness, such as differences in perceptions of social threat (e.g., exclusion). This will help us identify modifiable targets for future intervention studies.

In Study 3, we will observe the social and cognitive pathways to loneliness in young people from socio-economically marginalised backgrounds. For this study, will collaborate with the Future Leaders Programme (FLP). We will monitor loneliness and its social and cognitive predictors, as identified in Studies 1&2, in a cohort of young people, enrolled in a community action leadership programme. This will allow us to observe the social and cognitive pathways to loneliness in a real-world setting. It will provide a case study for the development of future scalable intervention studies that build on existing community action infrastructure and expertise.

To realize the research programme and produce an effective step-change in our understanding of youth loneliness, the project will bring together the expertise of academics, charities working with young people, and young people from socio-economically marginalised backgrounds. The Centre for Youth Impact will head the Steering Group to advise on the scientific and impact work. McPin will help recruit young people to the team who will work as salaried co-researchers on the project. The FLP will co-lead Study 3 and facilitate recruitment and implementation of the study. The Campaign to End Loneliness will facilitate the dissemination of findings to policymakers, charities, and young people.

Altogether, this work will yield a new, systematic understanding of loneliness in young people from socio-economically marginalised backgrounds. This will deliver the evidence-base needed to inform policy and funding prioritization. It will form the basis for our long-term vision of developing an effective large-scale loneliness intervention for young people.