The most affected group were young people aged 18-24 years, with more than four in ten (44 per cent) saying they felt lonely, according to the research study. The next most affected group were adults aged 25–34, with more than one third (35 per cent) saying they had experienced loneliness as a result of coronavirus.
One in six older people aged over 55 said they had felt lonely as a result of coronavirus, according to the study.
The survey data, from 2,221 UK adults aged 18 and over, were collected as part of Coronavirus: Mental Health and the Pandemic, a UK-wide longitudinal research project.
The survey was carried out on 2-3 April and asked people whether they had felt loneliness in the “previous two weeks”.
The UK-wide project is being led by the Mental Health Foundation in partnership with the University of Cambridge, Swansea University, University of Strathclyde and Queen’s University Belfast. The charity is seeking to track changes in the UK’s mental health in real time and target issues as they emerge.
The research also revealed a major surge in feelings of loneliness, which more than doubled across the lockdown period. When the researchers carried out the first round of the survey in March, shortly before lockdown started, 10 percent of UK adults said they had felt lonely. This figure rose to 24 per cent of all UK adults by the beginning of April.
Similarly, shortly before lockdown, 16 percent of young people aged 18-24 said they had felt loneliness because of coronavirus. This figure rose to 44 percent of young people after lockdown had been in force for almost two weeks.
Image: Man standing in front of window
Credit: Sasha Freemind
Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge