Loneliness

Over the last decade, loneliness has become a public health concern. This is worrying because loneliness can be linked to poorer mental health in the long term.

This project aims to measure the experience of loneliness in young people. We invited young people aged 8-24 years to tell us about their experiences of loneliness. Half of the participants are from London and the other half, from Manchester, to ensure the results are applicable to two distinct UK regions. We will produce workshops to encourage group discussion through structured topic guides and different creative art activities. This way we hope to gain a better picture of what loneliness means to young people.

The study is led by the Youth Resilience Unit which is based within the Centre for Psychiatry and Mental Health at Queen Mary University of London.

PPP organises the arts-based workshops and public events with young people to disseminate the findings and raise awareness about loneliness.

The overall aim of this study is to develop, evaluate, and disseminate a developmentally sensitive measure of loneliness in young people.

In 36 months of this study, we expect to capture authentic experiences of loneliness in youth with diverse backgrounds within the UK, particularly how these may change across periods within youth (for example, the start of adolescence versus the start of young adulthood).