Barcelona Metropolis

Unwanted loneliness is not just linked to ageing. On the contrary, some studies reveal that it is young people who suffer from loneliness more frequently, despite their greater sociability and access to technology. This makes the distribution of loneliness U-shaped, with a higher prevalence at the population’s two extremes of age. During adolescence, if this feeling is prolonged or chronic, it can bear negative consequences for health and well-being.

Unwanted loneliness is hardly a new topic. The first research on the subject dates back to the 1950s,[1] although it mainly refers to the isolation of older people. At the beginning of the 21^st century, studies on unwanted loneliness and its consequences on physical and mental health began to grow.[2] But it was in 2018 – when Theresa May, then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, set up the first Minister for Loneliness[3] – that it went beyond the academic and scientific realm and became a matter of public debate. This move raised concerns about loneliness, which affects nine million people in the UK, and launched a national strategy to understand and prevent unwanted loneliness, as well as to care for those suffering from it. In the same year, the European Commission issued a report indicating that 30 million people in Europe often felt lonely.[4]

Notwithstanding the evidence of these figures, we tend to see unwanted loneliness as a problem restricted to older people. This is perhaps because we associate loneliness with being alone, and we know that a large number of single-person households are made up of people over the age of 65, especially women. However, feeling lonely is not the same as being alone. A person can be alone and enjoy being alone. Conversely, there may be people who, despite living in the company of others and having regular social contacts, feel lonely.

The nature of loneliness

So what do we mean when we talk about unwanted loneliness? One of the most commonly used definitions considers this feeling to occur when there is a mismatch between the quantity and quality of the social relationships that we have, and those that we want.[5] In other words, the feeling of loneliness is not only determined by the number of relationships we have, but also by our perception of the quality of these relationships. Not having anyone to confide in, feeling neglected or excluded, having a feeling of emptiness, etc., may be the manifestation of this feeling of loneliness. This malaise, therefore, can appear at any life stage. In fact, it often manifests itself at times of transition in life, such as the change between stages of education, a move to another city or country, separation from a partner, widowhood, the beginning of parenthood, becoming unemployed or retiring, suffering from serious chronic illnesses, becoming a dependent person or becoming a caregiver…[6] Loneliness, therefore, has no age.

In 2009, Pearl Dykstra published an article debunking the myth that unwanted loneliness only affects older people. On the basis of survey data and longitudinal studies, she showed that unwanted loneliness is not necessarily an inevitable part of ageing, and that it can vary significantly between individuals and at different life stages. According to the study, it is young people, followed by older people, who feel lonely most often. This U-shaped trend (both extremes of age in the population) has also been found in surveys in countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Japan. In 2021, a study by Barcelona City Council[7] revealed a higher prevalence of loneliness among young people in the city of Barcelona: the population between 16 and 24 years of age feels lonely most often (7.1%), followed by people aged 25 to 34 (4.7%) and those aged 65 and over (4.1%).

If we focus on even younger people, teenagers, the figures for unwanted loneliness almost double: 12.6% of people in Barcelona aged between 13 and 19 say that they frequently feel lonely.[8] Adolescence is said to be, in itself, a stage in which the feeling of loneliness is often palpable and is linked to times of searching for identity. But if loneliness is prolonged or chronic, it can bear negative consequences for adolescents’ health and well-being, such as increased stress and social isolation, reduced cognitive capacity, self-centredness or a sense of threat from one’s surroundings.

Can we talk about the same kind of feeling of loneliness in adolescents, young people and older people? The feeling of malaise and emptiness might be similar, but the nature of this loneliness might be different. While the feeling of loneliness in older people is often related to a lack of social relationships (excessively small social network or poor-quality relationships) and poor physical and mental health (chronic illness, dependency, stress or depression, which hinder social relationships), it does not seem to be linked to the number of relationships held among younger people.