Lonely 12 year-olds less likely to gain employment in adulthood
KING'S COLLEGE LONDON
New research from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King’s College London, in partnership with the University of Greenwich, has found that there is a direct socioeconomic impact of loneliness in early adolescence.
The research, published in Social Science and Medicine, found that lonely young adults are more likely to be out of education, employment, or training (NEET) and consider themselves less employable and lower on the economic ladder than their less lonely peers.
Sourcing data from the Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study, researchers followed the progress of 2,232 individuals born in England and Wales during 1994-1995. Participants were assessed at ages 12, 18 and 26 for levels of loneliness, as well as being asked to rate their social status1. Participants’ employment status and employability were assessed at age 18.
Researchers found that young adults who had experienced loneliness earlier on in life experienced difficulties in young adulthood, even if they were no longer lonely. Researchers suggest that this demonstrates that loneliness impacts a person’s long term economic prospects and suggests that addressing loneliness in early adolescence could yield economic benefits through increased productivity.
Bridget Bryan, a PhD student at King’s IoPPN and the study’s lead author said, “While there are clear impacts of loneliness on mental health from an early age, our study demonstrates that loneliness also negatively impacts a person’s employment prospects. We’ve shown that, from an early age, loneliness can have knock on effects on a person's ability to compete in the job market. This not only harms a person’s chances in life, but also has direct costs to the economy.”
Previous research in this field has suggested a two-way relationship between loneliness and social standing. By using data collected over time, this research showed that feeling lonely negatively influenced a person’s social standing down the line, but social standing did not affect their future loneliness.
Professor Louise Arseneault, Professor of Developmental Psychology at King’s IoPPN and one of the study’s senior co-authors said, “Our research is one of very few studies reporting on the impact of loneliness years later. If we are to create effective prevention strategies, we need to continue collecting data in order to unravel the long-term outcomes of loneliness at various stages of life.
“We need more longitudinal data to unravel the long-term outcomes of loneliness at various stages of life. This can offer insight for developing prevention strategies.”
The study’s researchers argue that their findings highlight the importance of effectively tackling loneliness in order to help both the individual and society.
Dr Timothy Matthews, Lecturer in Psychology at University of Greenwich and one of the study’s senior co-authors said, "While we should never forget that loneliness impacts people of all ages, our research suggests that reducing loneliness in children and young people could yield benefits both for their own employment prospects and for the economy more widely.”
This study was possible thanks to funding from the Colt Foundation and the Medical Research Council, with additional support from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and by the Jacobs Foundation.
Ends
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- Subjective social status was measured at ages 12, 18 and 26, and used an adapted version of the MacArthur subjective social status measure, in which participants were shown a 5 rung ladder representing societal position. They were then asked which rung they thought they belonged to.
The socioeconomic consequences of loneliness: evidence from a nationally representative longitudinal study of young adults (DOI 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.116697) (Bridget T. Bryan, Katherine N. Thompson, Sidra Goldman-Mellor, Terrie E. Moffitt, Candice Odgers, Sincere Long Shin Soa, Momtahena Uddin Rahman, Jasmin Wertz, Timothy Matthews, Louise Arseneault) was published in Social Science and Medicine.
About King’s College London and the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience
King’s College London is amongst the top 35 universities in the world and top 10 in Europe (THE World University Rankings 2023), and one of England’s oldest and most prestigious universities.
With an outstanding reputation for world-class teaching and cutting-edge research, King’s maintained its sixth position for ‘research power’ in the UK (2021 Research Excellence Framework).
King's has more than 33,000 students (including more than 12,800 postgraduates) from some 150 countries worldwide, and some 8,500 staff.
The Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King’s is a leading centre for mental health and neuroscience research in Europe. It produces more highly cited outputs (top 1% citations) on psychiatry and mental health than any other centre (SciVal 2021), and on this metric has risen from 16th (2014) to 4th (2021) in the world for highly cited neuroscience outputs. In the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF), 90% of research at the IoPPN was deemed ‘world leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’ (3* and 4*). World-leading research from the IoPPN has made, and continues to make, an impact on how we understand, prevent and treat mental illness, neurological conditions, and other conditions that affect the brain.
www.kcl.ac.uk/ioppn | Follow @KingsIoPPN on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn
About University of Greenwich
The University of Greenwich has been providing higher education for over 125 years.
The University of Greenwich is a public, research university with four faculties: Liberal Arts & Sciences; Business School; Education, Health and Human Sciences; and Engineering & Science. It’s part of the University Alliance group and is silver rated in the Teaching Excellence Framework.
The university operates across three campuses: Greenwich and Avery Hill in London and Medway in Kent. Its renowned research has been globally received and endorsed by nine Times Higher Education Awards and five Queen’s Anniversary Prizes for Higher & Further Education.
JOURNAL
Social Science & Medicine
METHOD OF RESEARCH
Observational study
SUBJECT OF RESEARCH
People
ARTICLE TITLE
The socioeconomic consequences of loneliness: evidence from a nationally representative longitudinal study of young adults
ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE
14-Mar-2024
COI STATEMENT
The E-Risk Study received funding from the Medical Research Council (UKMRC grants G1002190 and MR/X010791). Additional support was provided by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (grant HD077482) and by the Jacobs Foundation. Bridget T. Bryan is supported by a Colt Foundation PhD Fellowship. Katherine N. Thompson is supported by an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) LISS-DTP Studentship. The funders had no role in the study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation or writing of the report. The authors have no interests to declare.
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