Exploring social isolation

Researchers have used information from Next Steps, and other studies following different generations, to explore when and why people might experience social isolation during their lifetime.  

Like loneliness, social isolation can have a negative impact on people’s physical and mental health. While loneliness is about how someone may feel when their social network doesn’t meet their needs, social isolation is objective. It can be measured by the number and frequency of social connections and interactions people have — for example how often someone meets up with their friends, or how many people they live with.  

In a recent study, a team of researchers at UCL compared Next Steps participants’ experiences of social isolation with those of people both older and younger than you, to discover whether people are leading more isolated lives today and whether there are critical timepoints when people are at most risk of social isolation.  

What we asked you  

When you were teenagers, we asked you about your friends and whether you saw them regularly. We also asked you if you did any volunteering, belonged to any clubs or did any sports. More recently, at age 25, we asked you about these things again as well as who you lived with, whether you had a partner, and if you were in work or education. All of this information helps build a picture of your social interactions.  

Comparable information had been collected from participants in four other similar studies following generations of people born in 1946, 1958, 1970, and 2000-02. Using all five studies together, researchers were able to look at patterns of social isolation over time and through life.  

What the researchers found  

People of your generation were more likely to be living alone in their mid-20s compared to older generations. At age 25, 17% of you lived on your own whereas only 9% of those born in 1970 did at a similar age. It was more likely for people of your generation to live alone than be out of work or education at age 25, perhaps showing a growing trend in people leaving the family home for education or work reasons rather than to set up home with a partner.  

Looking across time and generations, men had a higher probability of living alone in early-to midlife and women were more likely to live alone in later life, probably due to outliving their partners.  

Although living alone in early adulthood had become more common for your generation, not many Next Steps participants said they didn’t have regular contact with friends and family.  

The researchers looked at whether people were in work or studying as both can create opportunities for social interaction. They found that being out of work or education in early adulthood was less common for women of your generation than it had been for older generations. This could be an indication that people are now starting families later. On the other hand, men of your generation were more likely to be out of work and education in early adulthood compared to older generations at a similar age, which is likely the result of economic downturn.  

The researchers found that your generation were less likely to belong to a club or engage with religious activity than older generations but were more likely to volunteer. Volunteering was also more common among women than men of your generation.  

Why this research matters  

We already know that social isolation can be detrimental to people’s health and wellbeing, this latest research highlights the complexity of social isolation and how multiple factors contribute to it. By understanding the nature and timing of these factors, strategies can be developed to reduce social isolation and its negative impact.  

As you move through your lives, researchers will be able to use the information you will share with Next Steps to further explore your generation’s experience of social isolation and how to protect against the potential effects of this.  

Read the full research paper  

Lifecourse trajectories and cross-generational trends in social isolation: Findings from five successive British birth cohort studies by Rosie Mansfield, Morag Henderson, Marcus Richards, George B. Ploubidis and Praveetha Patalay was published in Advances in Life Course Research in June 2024.