Youth loneliness in pandemic times: a qualitative study in Quebec and Ontario

ABSTRACT

In many countries, young adults have been the age group most affected by loneliness during the pandemic. While this phenomenon is now well quantified, we still lack a clear understanding of its causes, as well as of the main characteristics of this youth loneliness. We argue that a qualitative approach can help to capture the dynamics of youth loneliness during the pandemic: drawing on 48 life stories of young adults aged 18 to 30 conducted in 2020 and 2021 in Québec and Ontario, we identify the different hardships, emotions and coping strategies associated with loneliness. We show that beyond a common « shock of loneliness », this experience is associated with three main narratives -loneliness as an « abyss », a « battle » or a « resource »-, which sheds light on a process of « cumulative loneliness », affecting particularly the most vulnerable young people. The conclusion highlights some key lessons for research on youth loneliness.

KEYWORDS:

• loneliness
• youth loneliness
• young adults
• loneliness experiences
• pandemic
• social isolation

Introduction

Has the pandemic caused a « loneliness epidemic » among young people (Palgi et al., 2020)? From the early days of lockdown, young adults were identified as the age group that suffered the most from loneliness, whether in Canada, France or the United Kingdom (Berhuet & Hoibian, 2021; Bu et al., 2020; Wickens et al., 2021): loneliness is defined here as a subjective feeling that, distinct from objective isolation (Cacioppo & Hawkley, 2009), can occur in isolated individuals as well as in individuals who are confined together. Although initially associated with the elderly, loneliness has now become a social concern associated with the younger generation: in Japan, for example, a wave of suicides among young students led to the establishment of a « Ministry of Loneliness » in 2020 with the goal of combating the effects of loneliness among young people (Sakamoto et al., 2021).

However, long before the pandemic, loneliness was already on the rise among young people – it was simply less visible as a social phenomenon. For the past decade, there has been a converging trend of increasing loneliness among young adults in several places around the world (Buecker et al., 2021). The rate of loneliness among young people has even surpassed that of older people in the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan (Cigna, 2018; DiJulio et al., 2018; Barreto et al., 2021. This sharp rise has sparked growing interest among the scientific community (Chao et al., 2015; DiTommaso et al., 2003; Garnow et al., 2022; Hemberg et al., 2022; Qualter et al., 2021; Vasileiou et al., 2019; Von Soest et al., 2020), but to date, studies have focused primarily on the role of social media (Fox, 2019; Seepersad, 2004; Wang et al., 2018) and on the most ‘radical’ forms of loneliness among young people, particularly via the international phenomenon of hikikomori (Furlong, 2008; Saito & Angles, 2013). The pandemic invites a continuation of these research efforts in order to better understand the specificity of young adults’ experiences and perceptions of loneliness, as well as to identify possible levers for social and political action.

To this end, this article draws on a large-scale qualitative study conducted in a Canadian context to explore young adults’ experiences of pandemic loneliness: drawing on 48 life stories conducted in 2020 and 2021 with people aged 18–30 from various social backgrounds in Quebec and Ontario, the article aims to identify the different hardships, emotions and coping strategies associated with loneliness. The originality of our approach lies in its life-course perspective, which allows us to better understand how these experiences of loneliness can be linked to the current conditions of transition to adulthood. Our aim is to capture the multiplicity of these juvenile experiences of loneliness, in order to shed light on the main factors at work behind this marked increase in loneliness among young adults. The study took place in a Canadian context marked by widespread lockdown from March to April 2020, followed by relatively strict distancing measures until mid−2021. We opted for a multi-site approach (Montreal, Saint-Anne des Monts in Gaspesie, and Toronto) in order to cover a number of social and territorial contrasts among young adults. From all the life stories we collected, we will show the existence of a common thread, marked by a « shock of loneliness », paradoxically dominated not by social loneliness, but by a form of existential loneliness; however, accounts then diverge into three main types of narratives: loneliness as an « abyss », as a « battle » and as a « resource ». In conclusion, we will return to some key lessons for research on youth loneliness.

The pandemic, young adults and loneliness: what do we know?

From the beginning of the pandemic, age has emerged as one of the most predictive factors of loneliness: while all age groups have experienced a significant increase in loneliness (Ernst et al., 2022; Kovacs et al., 2021; O’Sullivan et al., 2021), the youngest age groups have experienced the largest increase in the United Kingdom (Groarke et al., 2020), France (Berhuet & Hoibian, 2021) and Israel (Palgi et al., 2020) alike. This phenomenon is also found in Canada, where young adults have higher levels of loneliness than do older people living alone, though this group is nonetheless highly affected (Wickens et al., 2021). It is worth noting that loneliness has also greatly affected teenagers, who have experienced significant interruptions in their education (OECD, 2021; Smith & Lim, 2020).

While this phenomenon is now well quantified, we still lack a clear understanding of its causes: to date, very different hypotheses have been suggested to explain this high level of loneliness among young adults. Some studies emphasize the impact of traditional social factors: for instance, young people are particularly affected by situations of migration, unemployment, solitary life and weak friendship networks, all of which make them more susceptible to loneliness (Bu et al., 2020). Other studies have put forward factors related to the sociability expected at this age: social-distancing measures may have also had a greater impact on young people, given that friends and outdoor activities carry particular importance at this age (Berhuet & Hoibian, 2021; Nunn et al., 2021). On the other hand, some researchers suggest more psychological factors linked to a differential in the maturity of young people, who may have less experience of crisis and greater difficulty regulating their emotions (Wickens, 2021; Palgi, 2020), especially since low levels of « personal resilience » are considered as key predictors of loneliness (Ellis et al., 2020; Labrague et al., 2021; Matthews et al., 2019).

More generally, studies show the rise in loneliness to be part of a larger phenomenon of worsening mental health and a pronounced loss of well-being among young people: some research suggests a « mental health crisis » comprising a sharp increase in symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress about the future (El-Gabalawy & Sommer, 2021; Jauffret-Roustide et al., 2021; Vacchiano, 2022). Feelings of abandonment and exclusion have also increased faster among young people than among the rest of the population (Berhuet & Hoibian, 2021). Overall, young people emerge as the least optimistic age group with the lowest level of subjective closeness to others (Barford et al., 2021).

Furthermore, research shows stark social inequalities exist within this generation itself: loneliness has had a heavier impact on young people who are less qualified, lower paid or from an immigrant background, especially in urban areas (Bu et al., 2020; Shah et al., 2020). Students, especially international students, have also been particularly affected (OVE, 2021). Such ethno-racial and socio-economic inequalities are reflected more generally in all indicators of unhappiness (Fardghassemi & Joffe, 2021; Jauffret-Roustide et al., 2021). This is the case in Canada, where disadvantaged young people and those from minority backgrounds are found to be the most susceptible to disconnection from others, anxiety and feelings of abandonment by the state (Kishchuk, 2020). Finally, we can observe certain gendered differences, although these do not appear to be the same in all societies: in Canada, young women have been more affected by loneliness (Wickens, 2021), as well as by deteriorating mental health (El-Gabalawy & Sommer, 2021), than have young men.

Youth loneliness: a life course perspective

This literature review shows that to date, loneliness among young people during the pandemic has mainly been explored via statistical studies focused on standardized mental health indicators. We argue that a qualitative approach could shed a different light on these experiences, and can help to better understand their sources and their dynamics. To our knowledge, there are very few qualitative studies on the experience of loneliness of young people during the pandemic: the existing works relate more directly to social isolation (Dedryver & Knai, 2021), the uses of social media (Berhuet & Hoibian, 2021) or the psychosocial impacts of the pandemic (Lippke et al., 2021; McKinlay et al., 2022). Following up on these recent works, our goal is to better grasp the characteristics of young people’s experiences of loneliness: theoretically, we mobilize the cross contributions of a life course approach and of the sociology of emotions, in order to offer a temporal and multidimensional perspective on these pandemic experiences.

Loneliness within the temporalities of youth

First, to connect the dots between the multiple indicators on youth loneliness, we propose a sociological analysis of these experiences and how they fit into family and social pathways to adulthood. We argue that if we want to understand the links between youth and loneliness, in addition to the psychological factors linked to this age of life, it is necessary to take into account the social conditions of transition into adulthood. To this end, we prioritize a temporal perspective centred on life course (Elder & Glen, 1998), which allows us to identify the main points of rupture, as well as the evolutions and divergences within life paths that predominate at this age. This approach makes it possible to take into account not only the past, the present but also the relationship to the future of young adults, and thus to better capture the relations between age, time and loneliness (Qualter et al., 2021; Rokach & Neto, 2005; Van de Velde, 2020; Yang, 2019).

Words and emotions: taking into account the « narratives » of loneliness

In addition, we seek to develop a multidimensional reading of loneliness, which pays attention to the ‘vocabulary of loneliness’ and the way this experience is described and embodied by the participants. On the one hand, we aim to identify the various « types of loneliness » that arise in these accounts, as works in sociology and psychology have defined them whether « emotional », i.e. having to do with individuals’ relationship with themselves and their own existence; « social », i.e. primarily existing in attachments to others (Weiss, 1973); or « existential », i.e. related to the person’s awareness of their individuality vis-à-vis major life events (Moustakas, 2016). We also pay particular attention to the multiplicity of affects that can mark these different « narratives of loneliness »: like other « ordinary affects and feelings » (Stewart, 2007), we consider loneliness can oscillate between positive and negative emotions (Schurmans, 2003) including joy, anger, anxiety and even hope. Their analysis can help to better understand the dynamics of loneliness among young adults.

Methodology

To operationalize this life course approach, we based our investigation on the comparison of 48 interviews conducted between fall 2020 and spring 2021 with young people aged 18 to 30 from various social backgrounds in Montreal (16), Gaspésie, especially in the Saint-Anne-des-Monts area (16)- and Toronto (16).

Context

This case study is therefore situated in the Canadian context: it is worth noting that, in comparative terms, the pre-pandemic level of loneliness among young adults in Canada was in the low average range of Western countries, while that of adolescents was in the high average range (Surkalim et al., 2022). Social-distancing measures were relatively similar between Ontario and Quebec, with strict lockdown from March to April 2020, online study until summer 2021 and social distancing measures in place until mid−2021. In both regions, the ‘CERB’ (Canada Emergency Response Benefit) of $2,000 per month was made available at the beginning of the lockdown for employees over 18 years of age, and then to students from May 2020 onward.

Participants

We favoured a broad opening of the sample, both in social, gendered and territorial terms, in order to identify both the common patterns and the main differences in the narrative loneliness of these young adults. Firstly, we have taken a multi-site approach that opens up the geographical dimension of the study: while Toronto and Montreal are large urban and cosmopolitan centres with a high proportion of students, the Sainte-Anne-des-Monts region in Gaspésie is home to a high percentage of ‘NEET’—young people not in employment, education or training. For this research, our goal was not to establish a strict multi-site comparison, but rather to better understand the role of territory, while also highlighting traits common to all the young adults questioned, regardless of their place of residence.

Secondly, the sample sought to achieve a gender balance and a certain social diversity: it includes students (20), young employees (15) and young adults in precarious situations (13). This social and territorial openness has also led to a strong diversity in terms of household composition, with young people living either alone (11), with parents (12), a partner (15), or roommates (10). Of these 48 individuals, 25 identify as female, 21 as male and 2 as non-binary. It should also be noted that among them, 9 identify as visible minorities and 11 as first-generation migrants. Table 1 details the composition of this sample.

Table 1. Composition of the qualitative sample by occupation and household type.

	Occupation			Household type
	Employees	Students	NEET	Living alone	Living with parents	Living with partner	Living with roomates
Montréal	5	9	2	3	5	4	4
Gaspésie	5	3	8	4	4	6	2
Toronto	5	8	3	4	3	5	4

Recruitment, research design and analysis

We took a multi-source approach to the recruitment process, using social networks, contacts with social workers and public posters. Due to health measures, the interviews were conducted either by videocall or by outdoors when it was possible, especially in Gaspésie. The videocalls did not seem to have a negative impact on the quality of the interviews; in fact, they allowed a good level of trust to be established. The interviews included a very open life story section, leading them to a more semi-directive mode consisting of open questions on how lonely they felt, when they felt lonely, why they felt lonely and what resources they used to cope.

In the end, within this sample, only a minority of young adults were not concerned about loneliness (less than 10%): all the others, to varying degrees and in different ways, expressed a feeling of loneliness. The systematic analysis of these « narratives of loneliness » was organized around two axes: on the one hand, we identified the major themes and common dynamics that emerged from the narratives (part 1), and on the other hand, we have brought out the three main accounts of loneliness, linking them to the social characteristics of the young adults concerned (part 2). The main dimensions taken into account in this analysis were: the intensity of the feeling of loneliness (partial or total), the affects associated with loneliness (more or less positive), and the duration of this loneliness (more or less transitory or lasting). As we shall see, the territorial dimension differentiated the experiences of loneliness on several points, but in the end it did not prove to be the most structuring dividing line: the main differentiating factor between these accounts of loneliness is more related to the social vulnerability experienced in the face of the pandemic, which generates a process of ‘cumulative loneliness’ among the most precarious young people.

1. A common thread: the ‘shock of loneliness’ marked by a sense of existential loneliness

Firstly, these accounts show the existence of common patterns among young adults: in the wake of the pandemic, they have been affected by different types of loneliness – not only social but also existential and political.

A shock of loneliness

Although they later diverge, all the pandemic accounts share a common thread: that of an initial « shock of loneliness » at the beginning of lockdown. We borrow this expression from Jean-Louis Pan Ké Shon and Duthé (2013) who show that following major life transitions such as bereavement, separation or migration: the feeling of loneliness is experienced as an initial spike before potentially diminishing over time. In the young adults’ accounts, this « shock of loneliness » is described as a sudden shift into a new space-time, confined both spatially and temporally. « All day on my bed or at my little desk, that’s loneliness for me », said a 24-year-old Montreal student. This spatial closure corresponds to the experience of a temporal closure: the accounts linked pandemic aloneness with the experience of a « continuous present »—to use Carmen Leccardi’s expression (Leccardi, 2005)—marked by the lack of any change of scenery or perspective from one day to the next. Here we find the recurring rhetoric of being « trapped » or « stuck » as well as the lack of freedom noted in experiences of loneliness at other ages of life (Elmer et al., 2020; McKenna-Plumley et al., 2021). But beyond these expected dimensions, the accounts show the existence of different sources of loneliness, which potentially accumulate within life course.

Remaking life choices: the impact of ‘existential’ loneliness among young adults

« The hardest thing was that I was alone … literally alone in front of my life which crumbles in front of me. And I said to myself: how am I going to do to start again? » sums up a young woman faced with the interruption of her psychology studies, for which she had migrated to Montreal. A key finding of this study is that the most frequently mentioned source of loneliness in the interviews is less relational and more existential in nature: even if they evoke social isolation, the accounts evoke above all loneliness linked to the duty of « bouncing back » and to a feeling of having to fight alone to « rebuild your life » in the face of the shutdown of their projects. « My whole life has been turned upside down, and at this moment, you are completely alone » said one young Toronto employee faced with the loss of his restaurant job. For most of the young adults interviewed, the pandemic had interrupted the momentum of building a future, whether through the suspension of studies or internships, the loss of one or more jobs or the threat to the economic sector they were involved in. These imposed detours are also vectors of loneliness because they force the individual to over-mobilize in response to the sudden need to adjust to new perspectives, as described by a 25-year-old Montreal student who admitted « Yes I am actually alone facing the greatest questioning of my life » or by a young employee who lost her job and needed to « find herself again » in order to make a new life plan, despite the fact that « it’s so much harder to be alone when everything is moving ». This existential loneliness is related to the sudden responsibility of remaking life choices in a context of extreme uncertainty, and can therefore be associated with feelings of helplessness, anxiety or gravity: « It’s pretty heavy. More alone, you die ».

Moreover, it appears that this form of loneliness is accentuated by a powerful social norm of positivity conveyed by both social networks and the media: they should « make the best » of this time by staying active, making new resolutions and throwing themselves into projects, and in so doing, transform this period of forced aloneness into a proactive movement towards greater well-being. This imperative to take personal responsibility for it is key to understanding the experiences of loneliness among young adults: the flip-side of this norm of positivity is a sense of failure and loneliness among young people who are unable to bring about this mental shift, instead keenly aware of the gap between their own situation and the illusion of others’ success, forcing them into a cruel self-reflection. In this vein, one young woman voluntarily took a break from social networks to avoid having to respond to constant questions of « What’s up? What’s up? » and admit that nothing new was happening for her. « You see everything that other people are doing and you think, uh … I feel even more lonely », said another student. The stigma experienced here is not so much that of being alone – which is a shared situation during lockdown – but rather of allowing ourselves to « suffer » from loneliness.

Reconfiguring our connections: the ambiguity of « social » loneliness among young adults

The suffering of social isolation is undoubtedly the experience of pandemic loneliness that has been most studied in the works (Dedryver and Knai, 2021). However, within the upheaval of the pandemic, ‘social’ or ‘relational’ loneliness – that is, loneliness caused by the brutal restriction of social connections – is certainly present in the accounts, but of all the sources of loneliness, it is the one that appears the most ambiguous and the most polarizing. In our study, few individuals were ‘totally isolated.’ Social connections were less often lost altogether than they were thrown into new configurations: in the majority of the accounts, lockdown had a « revealing » effect, provoking a process of « filtering » existing connections. « I’ve had a major clear-out of my friends », says a 22-year-old employee, who do not wish to return to his former level of sociability after the pandemic. This filtering separates connections into three types: « superfluous connections », judged to be superficial and causing little suffering when lost; the « anchoring connections » that help stabilize us in our daily lives – for example, with neighbours – and the intimate or « deep » connections that bring a great sense of loss when they are taken away. In most cases, the lack of relational connections is seen as bearable and essentially transitory, opening the way for multiple coping strategies ahead of an anticipated « return to normal ». In this respect, it’s worth highlighting the overall positive role of social media in this rebalancing process: in our study, they helped to reduce « social » loneliness among young adults. Some young people even mention a strengthening of certain friendly or family relationships, which confirms the results of another study conducted in the United Kingdom (McKinlay et al., 2022). It is either in situations of very prolonged isolation leading to wear and tear, or in situations of migration or of movement between regions that this suffering is felt most keenly, because it sparks a more painful « relational uncertainty », as expressed by this 24-year-old immigrant: « The worst thing is, we don’t know when we’ll be able to move again ».

Moreover, as it is thought of as transitory, this relational isolation is marked by a deep ambivalence: even among young adults who struggle with it, isolation is also associated with the comfort of not being exposed to social pressure, as pointed out by an 18-year-old Gaspésian who nonetheless reports feeling lonely: « Sometimes being with people is just tiring ». The majority of respondents reported that dwindling social contacts caused them suffering « at times ». This relational suffering has a strong physical dimension, as this 24-year-old student recalls: « not being able to hug your friends, touch them when you’re laughing or just share moments like that, it actually makes you feel lonely. » Social media has generally helped alleviate « relational » or social loneliness, and many young people have described their online connections as a « lifeline » allowing them to share their experience and maintain meaningful relationships. While social media can sometimes be a source of frustration, it allows them to feel that we « exist » in relation to others.

Alone in the world? The sense of « political » loneliness

Finally, the interviews bring to light another potential source of pandemic loneliness: a « political loneliness », rarer but certainly present among these young adults, especially those from remote regions or in precarious situations, and among migrants. This type of loneliness emerges when individuals feel misunderstood, forgotten or mistreated by society, the state or institutions, whether individually or collectively. This political loneliness often arises when someone is faced with an explicit act of contempt or abandonment by an institution, which leads to the impression of being « alone in the world », as underlined by this young Gaspesian who declares that his town council has forgotten the young in favour of the older people. For example, this can happen to young people who report a deterioration of their mental health and are refused social or medical assistance, or young immigrants facing administrative silence on their migratory status. For instance, one young employee said he was « alone and stuck » in the process (« because they don’t give a damn about us! »), while another student felt « cut off from everyone » in her requests for help. This political solitude is similar to the concept of « structural isolation » developed by Klinenberg and Leigh (2023), which they define as feeling abandoned or marginalized by society at large. This feeling of loneliness is also found at the collective level. For example, some respondents in Gaspésie expressed the feeling that, as young people, they had been « completely forgotten » by the state; similarly, some young people in cities felt targeted by « anti-youth » measures. This was the case, for example, of a young adult who received a $500 fine for meeting a friend in an outdoor park, an experience that caused bitterness and greatly accentuated his sense of loneliness. Moreover, the polarization of debates on social media can also create a sense of political loneliness: when discussions are highly polarized, social media may increase the feeling of « being alone in your opinion » among some young adults – especially among those who oppose health measures.

Three major narratives of loneliness

Beyond this common thread, narratives of aloneness diverge sharply over time, revealing the powerful effect of inequalities on the degree of loneliness experienced. Three main « narratives of aloneness » emerged among the young adults interviewed, mainly related to objective living conditions during the pandemic and the ability to project oneself into the future.

Sinking: loneliness as an « abyss »

« It was really horrible… to be alone, to be alone like literally alone. It was really… it was super intense »: this testimony from a 21-year-old Montreal student living alone illustrates a first type of narrative, in which loneliness is felt as an « abyss » into which one might sink. It associates loneliness with snowballing difficulties that become all-encompassing, potentially affecting every dimension of life. These accounts were particularly common among the young adults – whether migrants, new students or employees – whom the pandemic had rendered most vulnerable and who had not had access to the support needed to get back on their feet. The pandemic brought to light vulnerabilities in these young people that were previously less visible, such as a lack of family and social support, difficulty in accessing certain information, or an uncertain migratory status. Just as this adversity increased their need for support, they also had to deal with lost opportunities and the lack of a safety net, which sharpened their sense of loneliness. The pandemic forced them into a process of a « cumulative loneliness »: they were thus faced with the « existential » loneliness of mourning scuppered plans and certain life choices, the « relational » or social loneliness linked to the distance or incomprehension of their loved ones, and sometimes also the « political » loneliness caused by the visible lack of institutional support. This was the case for a Montreal 22-year-old student going through a break-up with her partner. Far from her loved ones, she had also lost her job, and her studies were now taking place online. She described feeling « alone, without a hope », evoking her suicidal thoughts: « Hell on earth. I’m alone with everything I have to do, there’s no way out, and… sometimes you know, I’m like, you have no hope, you think, ‘Well, if I went under the metro at least it would be kind of easier ». Similarly, a young immigrant working as a delivery-person said he had « lost everything » with the pandemic – his job, his health, and the prospect of staying in Quebec – and associated his profound aloneness with the loss of « his old life », despite living with his girlfriend: « I feel like, yeah, it’s lonely. And, sure, I have my girlfriend by my side, but I feel alone because of everything else that’s gone… friends, the things I love, the beach, the sun – and you can feel alone, actually, even when you’re with someone ». Loneliness becomes a « total experience », which resonates with certain characteristics of the kind of « chronic » loneliness that cannot be filled solely by relationships or sociability, being in fact tied to several dimensions of existence at once (Pan Ké Shon & Duthé, 2013).

« I felt so alone that I felt like I was going crazy and like I was going to die ». As the 22-year-old student quoted above illustrates, in such cases, intense loneliness absorbs the whole of the person’s being, affecting physical and mental health. It engenders emotions such as anxiety, anger and despair, as well as a profound fatigue. For these individuals, the experience is accompanied by the feeling that they no longer have any control over their life: « I have no control anymore. Like, none at all. » It can lead to doubts about mental health, as one student described: « Like, am I mentally normal? Do I have a mental illness or something? » Other young adults may feel that their experiences of suffering are denied or misunderstood, as expressed by this 23-year-old-student who did not find the support she was hoping for in dealing with panic and anxiety attacks: « This annoyed me too, I felt like they were invalidating what I was actually feeling ». This experience of loneliness is often closely tied to profound physical and mental health problems: in our study, these young adults were the ones most likely to report long-term addictions and suicidal thoughts, while, paradoxically, they had the least access to support services.

Keeping the balance: loneliness as a « battle »

A second type of experience casts loneliness as a daily « battle » in which the individual must establish adequate coping strategies. Here, the solitude is not total; it is « partial », and seen as transitory and potentially surpassable: this experience of loneliness mainly affected young adults who were more « settled » and whose life paths had not been fundamentally destabilized by the pandemic, although their well-being had been dented. In these accounts, lonelinesss was largely presented as a partial frustration that became apparent over the long term: often easier to manage in the early stages, it was felt in the form of a gradual and invisible « wearing down ».

For young adults on relatively stable life paths, the challenge was above all to maintain a relational and emotional balance over the long term. In particular, some spoke of « dehumanization » or of the feeling of « drying up » when external connections were lost. Students midway through their studies and young employees often saw almost all aspects of their lives move online. While many were able to carve out a new relationship balance, this one remained delicate and had to be constantly renewed. Here, loneliness manifested itself as a progressive feeling of suffocation in which individuals were unable to « get out of their own head », as this 23-year-old lawyer clearly described: « I feel my motivation drop, it’s working from home that I find hard, it’s dehumanizing… in the morning I struggle to switch on my computer, I’m getting started later and later. It’s kind of a solitary journey, this ». For these young adults, this form of loneliness could also be accentuated by the experience of a painful distance from those closest to them, what we can call « cruel proximity ». Indeed, for some, the pandemic revealed serious rifts of incomprehension even within their « deep connections ». These were all the more difficult to bear as they contrast with the closeness expected during such periods. This « cruel proximity » was felt, for example, by a young woman who reported a gap in experience with her husband, who is an essential worker. Her loneliness was such that she planned to adopt a dog, to help her cope day-to-day.

In these accounts, loneliness is more of a fluctuating feeling, often associated with the idea of the « rollercoaster ». This feeling of loneliness is often tied to emotions such as a progressive decrease in motivation, a feeling of fatigue and passing depression, and anger towards loved ones, alternating with more positive periods. It also brings a certain amount of guilt for these respondents, who are conscious of being relatively well supported, as evoked by this young Montreal employee who was able to keep her job in publishing: « But I don’t have the right to feel bad, because I have lots of support around me ». Having just described her loneliness, a 25-year-old PhD student immediately tempered her experience: « But I’m really lucky, I’ve got people around me, I’ve got my dog, my partner ». Also worth noting is that these were the young adults with the most-active strategies to combat such relational loneliness. These approaches aim to create new « anchoring connections » in daily life, particularly within the neighbourhood. The accounts also point to the essential role of pets, as mentioned by this same student, who emphasized that her dog « really helped her to keep going ». Finally, these young adults were also the most likely to actively seek out mental health support in the private or public system.

Finding yourself: loneliness as a « resource »

In a third type of experience, pandemic loneliness, yet difficult on a daily basis, can be transformed into a positive, even regenerative experience: without denying its negative effects, forced loneliness is experienced as an unexpected « resource » on the long term, a welcome opportunity to breathe and slow down. Those who experienced loneliness in this way were not the most socially privileged in our sample; they were young people who had previously been in precarious employment or who were dissatisfied with their educational pathway, but who had been able to receive state benefits or family support during the pandemic period. This degree of security allowed them to retain their meaningful connections while being freed from the survival mindset, giving them time and space to redefine their priorities.

Over time, forced loneliness becomes transformed into a positive solitude – which shows that one can move dynamically between these two categories. Indeed, loneliness featured readily in their accounts, but it was associated with the chance to reinvest in the present and to see new possibilities for the future. While loneliness is undeniably wearing, it may nonetheless be relativized in light of certain advantages emerging at the existential level: the accounts evoke a time of self-reappropriation, free from external pressures and superficial relationships. As such, one Montreal student associates his aloneness with a « bubble » in which he finally feels comfortable: « I don’t have any trouble… actually it’s the opposite, I need to be in my bubble. I’m fine with being in my bubble… Yeah, that’s what it is, I feel comfortable there ». Loneliness is experienced here as a kind of « reunion » with oneself, which one student described as a « honeymoon ». A young employee in Toronto described her feeling of loneliness as a « blessing », associating it with the words « growth, balance, new ». She had received financial assistance from the state and said that, for the first time in her life, she was « paid to sleep ». This was a liberating break that helped disalienate her from the « robotic » experience of working multiple jobs.

Despite difficulties, loneliness can therefore be felt as a transformative, regenerative experience in which a sense of freedom and accomplishment come to the fore. In their accounts, respondents described how it had given them a certain critical distance from their previous lives, in which they often felt unfulfilled, to reappropriate the lost ‘meaning’ of their life path and to envisage the future in a more positive way. « It gives you the space you need to take time for yourself », said a 19-year-old student, for whom this phase of loneliness allowed him to reconnect with his « real passion », music, and to make the decision to give up his original choice of studies, taken « to please his parents ». This is a central element of the « chosen loneliness » that responds primarily to existential needs and the need to reinvent oneself (Schurmans, 2003). This experience goes hand in hand with a heightened sense of citizen interdependence: the social security received by these individuals, whether from their family or from the state, is essential here, as it allowed them to put their experience of isolation into perspective. It also deepened their sense of « living together », summed up in the rhetoric of being « all in the same boat ».

Discussion: Taking into account the precarity of life of young adults in loneliness research

These results identify some of the social and generational factors behind the sharp increase in young people’s loneliness during the pandemic. We emphasize that, on a generational level, young adults were affected by different types of loneliness – social, of course, but also existential and political. We show how precariousness tends to create a process of « cumulative loneliness » among the most vulnerable young people.

Bouncing back: life transitions, anxiety and existential loneliness

Our research suggests that loneliness among young adults cannot be reduced to the suffering of isolation; in fact, we show that accounts are dominated less by a lack of connections and more by « existential loneliness ». This sense stems from the responsibility these young adults have felt to rapidly adjust their life choices in a context of radical uncertainty, leading to an over-mobilization of the self. As such, it is possible that this dimension of loneliness was already implicit in « becoming an adult » (Van de Velde, 2008, 2018), but that it has been pushed to its extreme by the pandemic. The accounts also bring to light a political loneliness, especially among young adults in precarious circumstances, living far away from big cities or in processes of migration. This type of loneliness is linked to a feeling of being abandoned or treated with contempt by society, institutions or the state. This observation open the way for future research to further explore these multiple sources of loneliness among young adults, and in particular « existential loneliness », which has already been the subject of fruitful attention in recent studies (Garnow et al., 2022; Hemberg et al., 2022).

Our study therefore shows that the high level of loneliness among young adults during the pandemic cannot be wholly reduced to age-related psychological factors, such as lack of experience of crisis situations or difficulty in regulating emotions, as some studies suggest. Without denying these factors, we emphasize the need to take into account the social and structural characteristics of « growing up » and the particularly disruptive impact that the pandemic has had on young people’s life paths. The « spike » in loneliness felt by young adults cannot be dissociated from the shock of uncertainty also inherent in this stage of life; it is rooted in the multiple divergences imposed at the social, professional and emotional levels. We know that loneliness is lodged in important life transitions and « critical life events » (Duthé, Lippke et al., 2021; Pan Ké Shon & Duthé, 2013), and these levels of loneliness are inseparably linked to the self-reflectivity imposed by this rupture within the pathways to adulthood. Our study therefore confirms that « negative time perspectives » (Nowakowska, 2020) tend to provoke a sense of loneliness in young adults, and in the future, it would be interesting to extend the bridges between feelings of loneliness and time perspectives.

« Existing » online: the strange ambivalence of digital life

Our study also highlights the « Janus face » of social media: in some cases, it alleviates the feeling of loneliness, but it can also increase it. This deep ambivalence has already been highlighted (Berhuet & Hoibian, 2021; Shah et al., 2020) but our research shows how social networks can tap unequally into different forms of loneliness, whether existential, social or political. We have shown that the role of social media differs according to the sources of loneliness: while it has generally helped reduce the suffering of isolation, it can also accentuate existential loneliness, and to a lesser extent, political loneliness. In particular, it carries the powerful imperative to « make the best » of pandemic isolation, which often leads to a painful self-reflection and generates a sense of failure and a form of existential loneliness. The norm of well-being and the idea of individual responsibility are structuring factors in young adults’ experience of loneliness, which will be fertile subjects for future research on this issue.

Cumulative loneliness: social inequalities and public policies

While existing studies have underlined the particularly marked increase in loneliness among young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and from minority communities (Bu et al., 2020; Shah et al., 2020), we show that precarity can also result in a « snowball » of loneliness – at the existential, relational and political levels – because it threatens individuals’ ability to anticipate the future, as well as their sense of being supported and socially integrated. Even more than territorial differentiation, it was the divide linked to social insecurity that proved the most structuring. In our study, this mainly affected migrants and young adults in precarious circumstances who did not benefit from state support, especially those living in remote regions. These individuals were affected by a combination of existential anxiety, a lack of social support and a feeling of abandonment by the state. While loneliness was felt as an « abyss » for them, it could be transformed as a « resource » for those who have benefited from family or political support, as this has enabled a positive shift in their life course. It was experienced as a « battle » for more stabilized young adults whose main challenge in this respect has been the threat to their relational balance.

State support has proved decisive in the experience of loneliness: it has enabled some young adults initially made vulnerable by the health crisis to emancipate themselves from mere survival logics and experience positive, transformative loneliness, while those who were unable to benefit from it found themselves confronted with this process of accumulating loneliness, with marked consequences in terms of mental health. Our study suggests that beyond actions on sociability and the democratization of mental health care-two levers underlined in existing works (Masi et al., 2010) – fighting loneliness in young adults also relies on providing a basic degree of financial security for their lives, as well as support for major life changes. This would allow young adults in precarious situations to regain a sense of control over their lives, to preserve existing relationships and to once again look forward to the future.

Finally, it should be remembered that these results are situated in the Canadian context. Since experiences of loneliness reflect the deep impacts of social and cultural factors (Heu et al., 2019; Paugam, 2018), it would be worthwhile bringing in international comparisons in order to understand whether these types of narratives are found in other contexts. Another avenue of research would be to look more closely at the links between territory and loneliness among young adults: in our survey, certain traits – for example, the experience of « political loneliness » - stand out more among young people from remote regions, but it would be interesting to better grasp how the territorial dimension plays into young people’s experiences of loneliness.

Ethics

This research has received a certificate of ethics approval from the University of Montreal.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Canada Research Chair Program.

Notes on contributors

Cécile Van de Velde

Cécile Van de Velde is a full professor of sociology at the University of Montreal, and holder of the Canada Research Chair on Social Inequalities and Life Course.

Stéphanie Boudreault

Stéphanie Boudreault is a PhD candidate in clinical psychology at the University of Montreal.

Laureleï Berniard

Laureleï Berniard is a Master’s student in sociology at the University of Montreal.