The Young Australian Loneliness Survey: understanding loneliness in adolescents and young adults

More than 1,500 young Victorians aged 12–25 completed an online survey between June and July 2019. These included: 650 adolescents aged 12–17 years 870 young adults aged 18–25 years. The study aim was to: determine how common loneliness and social isolation risk are among 12–25-year-old Victorians examine the relationship between loneliness, social isolation risk, and other mental health outcomes. The survey included measures related to loneliness, risk of social isolation, symptoms of depression and social anxiety, general emotional state (or ‘affect’), and how young people tended to respond to negative emotion (i.e. by either reframing their thoughts around the situation or supressing the emotion). Young adults reported higher levels of loneliness, social isolation, social anxiety and depressive symptoms than adolescents aged 12–17 years. Greater levels of loneliness in young people were associated with the other factors explored including risk of social isolation, depressive symptoms, and social anxiety.