MELBOURNE, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- Loneliness hits young Australians aged 15 to 24 harder than any other age group when it comes to their overall physical and mental wellbeing, a study has found.
Young people experience greater quality-of-life losses from loneliness than older adults, despite receiving less attention, according to a statement released Friday by Australia's Monash University.
The study, published in Value in Health, analyzed more than 53,000 observations from almost 22,000 Australians aged 15 and over across four rounds of a national survey.
Researchers examined how changes in loneliness and social isolation were associated with changes in their health-related quality of life over time, accounting for factors including employment, income, physical and mental health conditions and major life events.
Loneliness was reported by 18 percent of people aged 15 to 24, compared with 12 percent of those aged 65 and over. In contrast, social isolation alone was more common among older Australians, the study showed.
The study measured health-related quality of life on a standardized scale ranging from 0 (death) to 1 (full health). Among young people aged 15 to 24, loneliness was associated with a 0.079-point reduction in health utility, the largest decline associated with loneliness across the age groups studied.
Across all age groups, health utility was 0.061 points lower among people experiencing loneliness alone, compared with those experiencing neither loneliness nor social isolation. The reduction was 0.020 points for social isolation alone and 0.102 points for people experiencing both.
Lead researcher Fikru Rizal from Monash University said the findings reinforced the importance of recognizing loneliness across the lifespan and distinguishing it from social isolation, which refers to objectively having fewer relationships and less frequent social contact. ■