Loneliness Across the Lifespan: Understanding the Causes and Reducing the Impact Through Intergenerational Contact

This research will explore the causes of loneliness across the lifespan and assess whether loneliness can be reduced through intergenerational contact. This is a timely topic given that loneliness has now been identified as a significant public health issue in the UK. It is associated with mental health issues such as social anxiety and depression and a heightened risk of death that is comparable to risk factors like smoking and alcohol consumption.

Loneliness is widespread in the UK, with 40% of young adults and 27% of over-75s reporting that they often or very often feel lonely. Significant numbers of children and adolescents also report loneliness. In October 2018, the UK launched the first cross-Government loneliness strategy to help people in all age groups build connections. This is a socially and economically sound decision, as every £1 spent on effective loneliness interventions delivers £2-3 in savings. Despite this increased interest, there is still limited research into the subjective causes of loneliness and a lack of effective interventions.

Loneliness is a feeling of distress that arises when a person perceives their social connections to be inadequate or unfulfilling. This is different from social isolation, where social connections are objectively limited or absent. Children, younger adults, and older adults all experience loneliness despite differing levels of social isolation, indicating that different factors might contribute to loneliness at different life stages. However, there is a lack of research allowing people to organically describe the causes of their loneliness, or the impact of different causes.

This research will address the current gap in knowledge by using a collective intelligence methodology which allows groups of children, younger adults, and older adults to identify and structure the causes of their loneliness. This method, Interactive Management, will map relations between causes of loneliness generated by these...