Does being alone increase loneliness?
A new study using data from Covid-19 lockdowns in Australia suggests that physical isolation does not lead to an increase in loneliness.
Image: Adobe Stock by Tunatura.
A new study using data from Covid-19 lockdowns in Australia suggests that physical isolation does not lead to an increase in loneliness.
Loneliness, a subjective feeling of social disconnection, is associated with a range of health problems from heart disease to depression. It also increases a person's risk of early death to a level comparable with smoking and obesity.
Lead author Dr Nancy Kong from the Centre for Health Economics Research and Evaluation at the University of Technology Sydney said loneliness is a pervasive and growing problem.
“There is a widely held belief that physical isolation directly leads to increased loneliness. We felt the Covid lockdowns provided a natural experiment to see if this was true,” said Dr Kong.
“What we found is that ‘being lonely’ and ‘being alone’ are very different experiences.”
The study, Physical isolation and loneliness: Evidence from COVID lockdowns in Australia, was recently published in the Journal of Economic Behaviour and Organization, with co-author Jack Lam from the University of Melbourne.
The researchers tracked more than 17,000 individuals from around Australia from 2018-2020 using data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey.
You can read the full article here: Does being alone increase loneliness?
