Ayuda en Acción’s recent study reveals a significant problem of unwanted loneliness among Spanish youths, highlighting gender, sexual orientation, and economic disparities in the social media era. The proposed solution emphasizes the need for educational reform and mental health support during the challenging transition from adolescence to adulthood.
Loneliness has become an urgent mental health crisis among 16–29-year-olds in Spain, with one in 4 saying that they feel alone and 77% claiming to know someone their age who suffers from loneliness.
Ayuda en Acción, an NGO focused on improving the living conditions of youth, conducted their report through telephone interviews with 1,800 people between the ages of 16 and 29. The study made this phenomenon of “unwanted isolation” visible, providing a new perspective on the mental health of the younger generation in Spain and the impact of socio-economic inequalities on loneliness.
Out of the 25.5% of young people who feel alone, 45.7% claim to have been feeling this way for 3 years, revealing that the COVID-19 pandemic is a primary cause of loneliness for only 20.4% of cases. Instead, the study attributes the cause to growing unemployment among the youth, bullying, and psychological disorders.
Although the study was unable to make a direct link between loneliness and social media, it revealed that the principal reason for loneliness, according to those who feel alone, is difficulty connecting to others. Those who do not feel alone have much higher trust in others than those who feel alone. For Telva, one of the largest women’s magazines in Spain, social media is a primary reason for this lack of ability to form in-person relations.
The study specifies that unwanted loneliness reaches maximum values in the central segments of youth, between 21 and 26 years old. In contrast, older young people, between 27 and 29 years old, as well as those from 16 to 20, experience somewhat lower levels of loneliness.
The relationship between mental health and the sentiment of loneliness is critical: 1 in 3 lonely youths suffer from mental health problems and 51% of young people who feel lonely have had suicidal thoughts.
Unwanted loneliness related to the transition to adulthood
Women, the LGBTI community, and foreign individuals are all also more likely to suffer from loneliness in Spain, but what stands out the most is the direct relationship between access to employment and involuntary isolation, and therefore inequality and poverty.
This unwanted loneliness in young people is doubled among those from homes with economic difficulties. In a time when access to housing is less than guaranteed, anxieties about the future have sky-rocketed: 83% of those who are lonely are worried about the future and their personal and professional goals.
The Spanish media El Mundo suggests that the Spanish youth has normalized uncertainty towards economic stability and employment, significantly impacting those in transition stages and entering adulthood.
This indicates an interesting correlation between loneliness and the phenomenon of “nesting,” according to a report conducted by the economics department of two Polish universities. Young adult Europeans today find it more and more difficult to leave their native nest, and the highest number of nesters was recorded in countries across Southern Europe.
Young people in Spain rely on their parents. As a result, the pessimism that young people are feeling towards economic success and the future is contributing significantly to their mental well-being.
Loneliness as a global phenomenon: is there a solution?
But this crisis is not only limited to Spain: a survey conducted by Fondation de France indicated that 2 million young people in France also claim to have been affected by loneliness. Broadening the perspective, a study conducted by Gallup on 142 countries reveals that a quarter of the world’s population is suffering, with young people being the most affected rather than the elderly, thus placing Spain within the global average.
Another report on the loneliness of Spanish people of all ages carried out by the State Loneliness Observatory (SoledadES) in 2021 highlighted the significant economic costs of loneliness on the healthcare system and emphasizes that the attention of society as a whole is needed to combat it.
However, Ayuda en Acción admitted that the diversity of profiles of young people makes providing a universal solution to loneliness difficult. The report suggests seven recommendations that all actively support young adults through the transitory period, and provide more direction and reassurance in education.
These include having inclusive schools that offer emotional education, fostering social relationships through healthy leisure, and protecting mental health in adolescents and youth.
