Adult Loneliness: An Exploration of Potential Causes of This New Epidemic
Authors: Vidusha Adira (Project Lead), Jessica Yao, Kelly Cheng, Jessica Guan
Introduction
Marriage rates are declining worldwide. Through social media, we have seen hundreds upon hundreds of new adults speak about their difficulty finding partners, finding friends. As the world has transitioned into the digital age and experienced a worldwide pandemic, human interaction has fundamentally changed. With it, we have also seen a rise in loneliness in adults, and an increase in mental health issues overall. This article aims to explore what is directly causing this change by taking a look at demographics, the COVID-19 pandemic, social media’s emergence, and economic factors.
How do demographics affect loneliness?
Loneliness is a feeling that can be felt by anyone, but certain demographics may be more susceptible to this emotion. Understanding demographic factors may be crucial in identifying at-risk populations and forming public health strategies. In our study, we examined three key factors–age, sex, and race–and analyzed their relationship with a loneliness score scaled from 1 to 10, with 1 being the least lonely and 10 being the most lonely.
Looking at the relationship between age and loneliness, we see that loneliness scores are relatively evenly distributed across ages. Interestingly, there’s a slight decline in mean loneliness as age increases, which challenges a common assumption that older adults are more likely to feel lonely. Our results instead suggest that younger people may be just as affected, if not more. The age group 18–29 in particular, exhibits a higher median loneliness score, along with a larger range and interquartile range that demonstrate how younger adults could be more prone to loneliness. This pattern aligns with the reality of early adulthood, where many people are going through life changes like building a career and forming new relationships, while facing pressure to figure out their path in life. On the other hand, older adults may have more established and stable relationships that reduce their feelings of loneliness. These insights underscore the complex relationship between age and loneliness, and how your life stage can impact emotional well-being. However, age is just one factor, and loneliness could be influenced by other demographic variables.
Next, we looked at race as a potential factor in adult loneliness. We used a violin plot to illustrate loneliness scores across three racial groups: white, black and other. We discovered that loneliness scores are generally distributed relatively similarly across these groups. However, non-white respondents show a higher concentration of elevated loneliness scores, which suggests that certain racial groups could face additional challenges that contribute to feelings of loneliness. These findings call for a more in-depth look at the underlying factors.
The distribution of loneliness scores among non-white respondents may reflect the inequalities ingrained into society. For example, systematic issues like socioeconomic disparities, discrimination, and unequal access to healthcare and mental health services, can significantly impact emotional well-being and social connectedness. Non-white individuals, particularly immigrants, can face additional obstacles such as language barriers, which could limit opportunities for forming meaningful relationships.
In addition to age and race, we also looked at sex as a possible factor in adult loneliness. This overlapping histogram highlights the frequency distribution of loneliness scores for each sex. Both sexes have a similar distribution of scores, but females tend to have higher frequencies in the mid-range of loneliness scores, while males dominate the lower and upper extremes. However, since the distributions are so similar, we can’t draw any significant conclusions from the data, and we would need to investigate further into the potential causes of the loneliness epidemic in adults.
What economic factors have most severely affected adult loneliness through the lens of suicide rates?
According to the National Institution of Health, loneliness is a predictor for suicide, and thus this lens gives us more of an insight into what might be driving these rates up. It also offers larger insights into the worsening mental state of people around the world. When comparing suicide rates to various economic factors, we can determine correlations and see if there can be a structural solution to this growing problem.
When taking a look at this heat map, GDP per capita and employment population ratio were the most correlate with suicide rates, and so the focus will be on exploring these factors more thoroughly. Inflation rate will also be explored to determine reasons why there might not be as much of a correlation than might have been expected.
We can see from this graph that suicide rates and GDP per capita are inversely correlated: when the GDP of a country is high, the suicide rates drastically decrease, and the opposite occurs when GDP is low. When analyzing it, taking into account that time is also a variable, both could be affected by an increased emphasis on human rights and social support systems that have risen in popularity over time, which could help reduce suicide rates, while wealthier nations might have more income to create more robust systems compared to poorer ones, hence the discrepancies. However, when taking a look at GDP versus suicide rates without taking into account time, there is a distinct negative correlation between the two, indicating that a higher quality of economic life may lead to a higher quality of overall mental health. It could also speak to each person having more disposable income in higher GDP per capita states to spend on mental health services in comparison to lower GDP per capita states, as more of their income would go towards necessities.
The employment-population ratio and suicide rate were negatively correlated, with the higher the employment ratio, the lower the rates of suicide. This again might speak to numerous factors, such as more disposable income to spend on mental health services, but also be used as an indicator of a state’s economic and political health, which would then influence its citizens’ health.
Inflation rate and suicide rate did not have as high of a correlation as expected. There were a few values that needed to be removed due to their heavy skewing of the data from extenuating circumstances. For example, Albania was removed in 1992, which had an inflation rate of 226 due to its transition from a communist regime and the introduction and expansion of the money supply. This was more than 200 of the majority of data points we were given. This was the same with the rest of the values, some greater than 25, greater than twice the upper boundary of the upper quartile, which was 12. High inflation typically occurs during uncertain times in a state, whether it be politically or economically, and it also directly impacts cost of living, decreasing disposable income that people might have otherwise put towards mental health services. Inflation as an indicator of mental health is difficult to use however, because moderate inflation can indicate a healthy economy and country, as the demand for goods is rising.
How did the COVID-19 pandemic impact adult loneliness?
When COVID-19 swept across the world in 2020, it brought with it a less visible but equally concerning wave of psychological distress that has and is still continuing to impact mental health trends among the global adult population.
Here is a line plot of mental health trends in adults from 2015 to 2021. Prior to COVID-19, loneliness levels among adults were relatively stable, largely fluctuating between 40 and 60 in terms of intensity and frequency and with seasonal variations trending periodically. The pre-pandemic median loneliness score of 52 suggests that social isolation was manageable for most. The outbreak of COVID-19 saw this score jump to 72, a nearly 40% increase. Across the board, loneliness scores also became clustered more tightly, indicating that the experience of isolation became more universally shared. While other mental health trends varied throughout the pandemic, loneliness scores remained elevated, revealing that although adults may have been able to adapt to changing realities, the fundamental human need for interaction cannot be ignored.
The human need for connection also has deeper ties to mental health challenges, as seen in this correlation heatmap. It is evident that there is a strong correlation between loneliness and depression, meaning that social isolation often parallels depressive symptoms. There are also moderate correlations between anxiety and panic attacks and loneliness, conveying that social isolation may increase stress responses. Finally, there is a weak but still noticeable correlation between insomnia and loneliness, pointing to disruptive sleeping experiences for isolated individuals.
The broader impacts of social isolation can also be observed through shifts in loneliness levels before and after the pandemic, which are displayed in this boxplot. Scores of 100 during the time of the pandemic are outliers and represent severe cases of isolation. The smaller range of loneliness scores during the pandemic suggests that the experience of loneliness became more prevalent across the population. COVID-19 was not just a physical health crisis but also a catalyst for significant psychological and social challenges to adult mental well-being.
Analysis of these visualizations reveals that the COVID-19 pandemic heightened individual mental health challenges, especially loneliness, among adults while also giving rise to more complex relationships among various mental health trends.
How has social media usage impacted adults’ mental health?
Social media has become a central aspect of modern life, with billions of users worldwide relying on platforms for communication and entertainment. While social media offers numerous benefits, such as staying connected with loved ones and accessing information, its impact on adults’ mental health has been a growing area of concern. Understanding the trends between social media usage and mental health can help identify the psychological effects of social media on adults, particularly in terms of feelings of loneliness, anxiety, and overall mental well-being.
To explore the relationship between emotions and screen time, we created a bar graph to illustrate how different emotions correlate with daily usage time on social media platforms. Looking at the correlation, we can see that users experiencing happiness spend the most time on social media, with around 2.5 hours daily. This is likely due to the positive reinforcement that social media provides for individuals seeking connection and validation. For many adults, social media acts as a tool for enhancing mood, seeking enjoyable content, or staying connected with friends and family, which may explain why happiness-driven engagement is higher. In contrast, aggression and anxiety are also linked to significant usage times, indicating that users who experience negative emotions might use social media as a coping mechanism. People experiencing aggression might turn to platforms to vent frustrations, while those feeling anxious could use social media to stay informed or distracted from their worries. While these behaviors offer temporary emotional relief, they can contribute to a cycle of dependence, leading to prolonged social media use, which may exacerbate feelings of loneliness or disconnection over time. Interestingly, boredom and neutral emotions correspond to lower daily usage, which suggest that these emotional states might not drive the same level of engagement. Users feeling neutral or bored may casually browse social media without the emotional attachment that drives excessive usage, indicating that social media might serve as an idle pastime rather than an emotional fulfilling experience for these individuals.
Next we might look at how dominant emotions vary across different social media platforms. This visualization highlights the distribution of emotions among users of popular platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Among all platforms, Instagram stands out as the platform most closely associated with happiness, likely due to its focus on visual content and positive self-representation. The curated nature of Instagram often showcases the best highlights from users’ lives, which can reinforce feelings of joy and success. However, for some users, this portrayal of a seemingly perfect life can lead to a sense of inadequacy, leading to lower self-esteem, and increasing loneliness despite the initial perception of happiness.
On the other hand, Facebook and Twitter show a more mixed distribution of emotions, with notable presence of sadness, anxiety, and anger. These platforms allow for more personal expression and conversation, where users might share their emotional struggles or engage in discussions that trigger strong emotional responses. Though these platforms may provide users with emotional support and a way to vent frustrations, they can also foster negative emotions, where heightened emotional content or online arguments can contribute to stress and disconnection. Similarly, LinkedIn is also a platform associated with anger. As a platform centered on professional networking, this emotion could stem from the pressure to succeed professionally, job-related stress, or competitive comparisons.
This visualization offers a glimpse into the interplay between social media engagement and emotional response. It can be seen that there is a strong positive correlation between likes and comments, emphasizing the validation loop often sought after on social platforms, where higher engagement can fuel a sense of connection and affirmation. However, the emotional tone of content shows that posts showing happiness garner the most likes and comments, reflecting the platforms’ preference for positivity. In contrast, sadness, anxiety and boredom struggle to gain traction, potentially leaving individuals expressing these emotions feeling unseen or isolated. The disparity in engagement based on emotional tone suggests a subtle reinforcement of positive self-presentation while discouraging vulnerability, which could amplify feelings of disconnection for those grappling for negative emotions.
The relationship between social media usage and emotions highlights the complexity between positive and negative effects on mental health. Ultimately, these insights emphasize the need for mindful engagement with social media. Users should strive to leverage platforms as tools for meaningful connection and emotional support while being aware of their potential to amplify negative emotions or encourage unhealthy comparisons. By fostering a healthier relationship with social media, individuals can mitigate its potentially harmful effects on mental health and ensure that their online experiences contribute positively to their overall well-being.
Final Thoughts
The rise in adult loneliness, a complex issue that was especially exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the advent of the digital age, were affected by varying demographics and economic conditions. Our explorations have only cemented a necessity for economic stability as a means for preventing loneliness. It has also shown how online interactions and social media have become an emotional crutch for people to find temporary relief from their emotional turmoil and the need for utilizing social media as a tool for meaningful connections.
