Loneliness and friendships among eight‐year‐old children: time‐trends over a 24‐year period
Abstract
Background: Loneliness in childhood has a wide range of negative consequences for well‐being and mental health later in life. This study reports time‐trends in children's loneliness and the association between children's loneliness and psychiatric symptoms over a 24‐year period. Methods: Information on 3,749 eight‐year‐old Finnish‐speaking children born in 1981, 1991, 1997, and 2004 was gathered at four time points from the area covered by Turku University Hospital in southwest Finland. The actual numbers of participants at these time points were 986 (1989), 891 (1999), 930 (2005), and 942 (2013), with participation rates of 86%–95%. The study design and methods were similar at every time point. Information on children's loneliness and friendships was obtained from the children and also parents and teachers evaluated how many friends children had and their psychiatric symptoms. Results: Approximately 20% of the children reported loneliness at each time point, 5% always felt lonely, and 25% wished they had more friends. Conduct and emotional problems, and hyperactivity were independently associated with loneliness in the multiple‐regression analysis. The strength of these associations remained at similar levels over the 24‐year study period. Living in a nonnuclear family, parents with a lower level of vocational education, and negative life events among the girls in the study were all associated with loneliness. Conclusions: Loneliness was a common phenomenon in childhood, and no notable changes were found during the 24‐year study period. Psychiatric symptoms were strongly associated with loneliness. It is important to pay attention to children's loneliness and make it an integral part of school health care. Further epidemiological research is needed.
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Loneliness at age eight was concurrently associated with psychiatric symptoms such as conduct problems, hyperactivity, and emotional problems.
“Loneliness at age eight was also concurrently associated with psychiatric symptoms such as conduct problems, hyperactivity, and emotional problems [7].”
From Loneliness and Well-Being in Children and Adolescents during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review (2023) · cites this paper as [7]
In pre-pandemic studies, loneliness in children and adolescents confers a risk for poorer well-being.
“In pre-pandemic studies, researchers have consistently shown that loneliness in children and adolescents confers a risk for poorer well-being.”
From Loneliness and Well-Being in Children and Adolescents during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review (2023) · cites this paper as [7]
The single-item measure of loneliness has been used in other large-scale studies and was shown to capture the context of social relationships.
“Furthermore, it has been used in other large-scale studies [14, 30] and was shown to capture the context of social relationships [14].”
From Predictors of chronic loneliness during adolescence: a population-based cohort study (2022) · cites this paper as [30]
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- Authors
- Lempinen, L., Junttila, N., & Sourander, A.
- Affiliations
- University of Turku (FI)
- Department of Child Psychiatry University of Turku Turku Finland
- Corresponding author
- Lempinen, Lotta
- Venue
- Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2017-09-11
- Volume
- 59
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 171-179
- ISSN
- 0021-9630 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-7610
- OpenAlex
- W2753961308
- Cited by
- 82
- References
- 37
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 1
- FWCI
- 7.12
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Suomen Aivosäätiö
- Lastentautien Tutkimussäätiö
- Orionin Tutkimussäätiö
- Academy of Finland (288960)
- Koneen Säätiö
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Bullying, Victimization, and Aggression
- Keywords
- childhood loneliness, friendship, 8-year-old children, psychiatric symptoms, conduct problems, emotional problems, hyperactivity, parental education, negative life events, temporal trends, school health services
- MeSH terms
- Mental Disorders, Child, Female, Finland, Humans, Loneliness, Male, Friends
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