Loneliness not always a negative experience for young adults, research shows

The study, which has just been published in the journal of Emerging Adulthood, revealed that while loneliness involves negative feelings, there are individual differences in how emerging adults perceive their experience of loneliness. 

New research from the University of Limerick has suggested that for some young adults, loneliness is part of normal development.

The study, which explored young adults’ views and experiences of loneliness, shows that the loneliness can be particularly varied and related to development during this life stage.

The new research highlights that the experience of loneliness during young or emerging adulthood can be tied to key social transitions, and may not always be an entirely negative experience.

The study, which has just been published in the journal of Emerging Adulthood, revealed that while loneliness involves negative feelings, there are individual differences in how emerging adults perceive their experience of loneliness. 

Some individuals may even identify positive aspects to it, such as the opportunity for self-reflection and motivation to form new relationships. It also reveals that expectations for emerging adults’ lives can contribute to feelings of loneliness.

The team of researchers, led by the Department of Psychology and Health Research Institute at UL with the Institute of Public Health in Ireland, conducted interviews with 27 emerging adults in Ireland to understand the experience of loneliness from their perspective.

The research involved a youth Research Advisory Group recruited from SpunOut.ie’s Youth Action Panels who advised the researchers on the development of the study. The qualitative study explored the experiences and views of loneliness, and the causes of loneliness from the perspective of emerging adults.

Lead author Emma Kirwan, a PhD researcher and IRC scholar in UL’s Department of Psychology, said: “Loneliness is the unpleasant feeling that accompanies the experience of perceiving one’s social relationships as inadequate, either in quantity or quality. 

As opposed to social isolation or being alone, loneliness is the subjective experience of feeling alone and can occur even if someone has many social ties.

The results suggest that along with typical changes at this point in life, social comparison and wider expectations about how young adults should live their lives also contributes to loneliness.

“Although social transitions are important for development, they can cause shifts in a person’s social relationships and make emerging adults particularly vulnerable to experiencing loneliness,” explained Ms Kirwan.

“Most people will experience temporary loneliness, where the unpleasant feeling subsides upon reconnection, but a smaller amount of people will experience more persistent loneliness.” 

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The results suggest that future efforts to understand and prevent loneliness in emerging adulthood should consider that loneliness may be transient in nature and a more complex experience during this life-stage.

Co-author and primary supervisor on the project, Dr Ann-Marie Creaven, lecturer in psychology at UL, said: “Loneliness is often considered an issue specific to older adults, but in fact it is very common in young adulthood and often a precursor to more significant mental health challenges.

“This research tells us that occasional feelings of loneliness are probably quite normal in this group. However, when loneliness is felt very strongly, or very persistently, mental health supports may be required,” Dr Creaven added.