The Change in Loneliness in Adolescents and Emerging Adults over the Last Decades: A Meta-Analysis

Abstract

In the last couple of years, the general view is that people are becoming lonelier. The media even speaks of a loneliness epidemic. But is that really the case? This study will focus on the change in loneliness in adolescents and emerging adults over the last decades. In addition, we will look whether there is a different trend in adolescents compared to emerging adults. A meta-analysis has been conducted by using data from the MASLO-database. The meta-analysis was based on 630 effect sizes, published between 1979 and 2016, covering 319,770 participants. The results showed stability in loneliness in adolescents and emerging adults (p = .263). However, if we look at the age groups separately, we found that adolescents had become slightly less lonely (B = -0.189) and emerging adults had become slightly lonelier (B = 0.230). This result showed that it is important to look at the two groups separately because it allows us to have a better understanding of the change in loneliness within these groups. In future research, we could look more closely at the reasons for the change in loneliness.