The relationship between loneliness and depressive symptoms in children and adolescents: a meta-analysis

Carissa Dunn; Gemma Sicouri

doi:10.1017/bec.2022.13

The relationship between loneliness and depressive symptoms in children and adolescents: a meta-analysis

Carissa Dunn, Gemma Sicouri^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

21 Citations (Scopus)

78 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Objective: To provide a quantitative assessment of the literature examining the cross-sectional association between loneliness and depressive symptoms in children and adolescents. Method: A total of 44 studies from 35 articles (n = 27, 214; mean age 13.63 years; 51% female) met inclusion criteria. Results: A medium, positive correlation between loneliness and depressive symptoms in children and adolescents was found (r =.48). Age and gender did not moderate the relationship between loneliness and depressive symptoms. Conclusion: Loneliness may be a particular risk factor for depression. These results have implications for COVID-19 disease containment measures.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	134-145
Number of pages	12
Journal	Behaviour Change
Volume	39
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1017/bec.2022.13
Publication status	Published - 7 Sept 2022

Bibliographical note

Copyright the Author(s) 2022. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

Keywords

loneliness
depression
children
adolescents
meta-analysis

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10.1017/bec.2022.13Licence: CC BY

Publisher version (open access)Final published version, 304 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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The relationship between loneliness and depressive symptoms in children and adolescents: a meta-analysis

Abstract

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