Loneliness is defined as the experience of a deficit between actual social relationships and desired social relationships, either in quality or quantity (Hards et al., 2021). Social isolation and loneliness are important, yet often neglected, social determinants of health for people of all ages, including children and young people (WHO, 2025). According to the World Health Organization, it is estimated that between 5 and 15 per cent of adolescents experience loneliness and social isolation and that loneliness is increasingly being recognized as a priority public health problem.
High-quality social connections are essential to our mental and physical health as well as our wellbeing, with positive social relationships providing companionship, guidance and a source of support in times of stress (Thompson et al., 2022).
Loneliness Awareness Week (09 – 15 June 2025), hosted by Marmalade Trust, aims to raise awareness of the impact of loneliness and to reduce the stigma around this topic. For 2025, Loneliness Awareness Week focuses on the theme of ‘Meeting Loneliness Together’.
This Loneliness Awareness Week, please explore the FREE learning opportunities available on our website and ACAMH Learn and do share with your networks.
Resources
Podcasts
- ‘Mind the Kids – Only the lonely‘ with Dr. Jane Gilmour, Professor Umar Toseeb, and Professor Roz Shafran
- ‘Mind the Kids – Mental Health: Best mates and Classmates‘ with Dr. Jane Gilmour, Professor Umar Toseeb, and Dr. Tom Wu.
- ‘Maternal Disapproval of Friends: Impact on Peer Status and Child Conduct Problems‘ with Professor Goda Kaniušonytė and Professor Brett Laursen
- ‘Self-harm Behaviours and Loneliness: Insights from the OxWell Student Survey‘ with Dr. Galit Geulayov and Dr. Rohan Borschmann
Articles
- ‘Seven things to know about research and academic thinking on loneliness‘ by the Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ACAMH), posted on Marmalade Trust.
- ‘Loneliness and Early Career Researchers: An Evidence-Based Perspective‘ by Pauline Thibaut
Open Access papers from ACAMH journals
- JCPP Editorial Perspective ‘How can we develop effective and timely interventions for young people with chronic loneliness?’, (December 2024), Tom Cawthorne, Pamela Qualter, Sophie Bennett, Anton Käll, Gerhard Andersson, Roz Shafran
- JCPP Original Article ‘Depressive symptoms and loneliness among early adolescents: a psychometric network analysis approach’, (August 2023), Paweł Grygiel, Roman Dolata, Grzegorz Humenny, Marek Muszyński
- JCPP Original Article ‘Social connection and its prospective association with adolescent internalising and externalising symptoms: an exploratory cross-country study using retrospective harmonisation’, (December 2024), Bettina Moltrecht, João Villanova do Amaral, Giovanni Abrahão Salum, Euripedes Constantino Miguel, Luis Augusto Rohde, George B. Ploubidis, Eoin McElroy, Mauricio Scopel Hoffmann
- JCPP Advances Original Article ‘Identifying characteristics of adolescents with persistent loneliness during COVID-19: A multi-country eight-wave longitudinal study’, (November 2023), Laura Riddleston, Meenakshi Shukla, Iris Lavi, Eloise Saglio, Delia Fuhrmann, Rakesh Pandey, Tushar Singh, Pamela Qualter, Jennifer Y. F. Lau