WWCW_Loneliness and Wellbeing Among Adolescents and Young Adults

人们越来越多地认识到，孤独是一个严重的公共卫生问题，研究表明，孤独与身体健康状况不佳、卫生保健服务使用率增加、甚至过早死亡有关。虽然孤独感历来被视为老年人的问题，但最近的研究表明，孤独感可以影响所有年龄段的人，而且这种影响会在整个生命周期中积累。去年，英国政府发布了首个《应对孤独战略》，强调需要更好地了解孤独是如何发展的，特别是对不同人群而言。因此，对青少年和青年群体中的孤独感进行研究，将有助于早期识别孤独感的风险和保护因素，从而为旨在减轻孤独感的公共政策设计提供信息。在本研究中，我们旨在研究个人、社会和环境对青少年（11-15岁）和年轻人（16-24岁）群体孤独感的影响。我们将使用覆盖整个英国的三个大型数据集的数据，从而提供英国年轻人孤独的全面概况。这项研究将确定与孤独相关的因素，并研究这些因素在不同背景下的表现。例如，这项研究将确定风险或保护因素的强度是否在不同的居住区域有所不同。这种情境化的方法将提供对个人层面和社区层面因素影响孤独的机制的更细致的理解。除了分析孤独的结果外，拟议的项目还将探讨孤独对个人福祉和心理健康的影响。这项研究将特别关注孤独与社会福利相关方面之间的关系，如社会孤立和社会支持，以预测年轻人的福祉。此外，该项目将确定社会背景因素，如性别或家庭关系，这些因素可以改变孤独与心理健康之间的关系。拟议中的项目为英国关于孤独和幸福的研究做出了重大贡献，并为公共政策努力提供了明确的策略。重要的是，在青少年和年轻成人人群中确定具有可塑性的干预目标，可以使政策努力更早地开始，有可能减少孤独感的流行，并改善人口层面的个人福祉和心理健康。

Loneliness is increasingly recognized as a serious public health concern, with research demonstrating links to poor physical health, increased use of health care services, and even early mortality. Although loneliness has historically been viewed as an issue amongst older people, recent research has shown that loneliness can affect individuals across all age groups, and that the effects accumulate across the lifespan. Within the last year, the UK Government released its first Strategy for Tackling Loneliness, which highlights the need for a better understanding of how loneliness develops, particularly for different groups of people. As a result, research on loneliness within adolescent and young adult populations would allow for early identification of risk and protective factors for loneliness, which subsequently informs the design of public policy aimed at alleviating loneliness. In the proposed study, we aim to examine individual, social, and environmental influences on loneliness within both adolescent (age 11-15) and young adult (16-24) populations. We will use data from three large datasets that cover the entirety of the UK, therefore providing a comprehensive profile of loneliness in young people in Britain. The study will identify factors associated with loneliness, and examine how those factors unfold in different contexts. For example, the research will determine if the strength of risk or protective factors differs across different areas of residence. This contextualized approach will provide a more nuanced understanding of the mechanisms through which individual-level and community-level factors affect loneliness. In addition to analysing loneliness as an outcome, the proposed project will also explore the impact of loneliness on personal wellbeing and mental health. The study will pay particular attention to the relationship between loneliness and related aspects of social wellbeing, such as social isolation and social support, in predicting wellbeing among young people. In addition, the project will identify sociocontextual factors, such as gender or family relationships, that modify the relationship between loneliness and mental health.The proposed project offers a substantial contribution to UK research on loneliness and wellbeing, and offers clear strategies for public policy efforts. Importantly, the identification of malleable targets for intervention in an adolescent and young adult population allow policy efforts to start much earlier, having the potential to reduce prevalence of loneliness, and improve personal wellbeing and mental health at the population level.