What is it about?
More than 1 in 4 adolescents felt lonely, and this increased to half of young adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. Adolescents who felt lonely were more likely to feel lonely again as young adults. Parents often don’t realize how lonely their kids really feel. Problems with how moms parent and fewer behavior problems in childhood were linked to more loneliness in adolescents. Mental health issues,adverse childhood experience, and too much internet use in the teen years are associated with loneliness later on.
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Photo by Pawel Czerwinski on Unsplash
Why is it important?
The results of this longitudinal study on emotional loneliness in young adults point to several potential starting points for preventive interventions in childhood and adolescence. These measures range from improving parenting practices and increasing parents’ awareness of behavioral problems in their children during childhood and adolescence, to reducing negative and potentially traumatic childhood experiences, and limiting excessive internet use during adolescence.
Perspectives
Despite the high level of connectivity through social media, many young people still feel lonely. Chronic loneliness has long-term consequences, making early prevention very important.
Max Supke
Leibniz-Institut für Resilienzforschung (LIR) gGmbH
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Long term patterns and risk factors of loneliness in young adults from an 18-Year longitudinal study in Germany, Scientific Reports, July 2025, Springer Science + Business Media,
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-025-08842-1.
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