Trapped and lost in transition - existential loneliness during adolescence described in retrospect by Swedish university students

ABSTRACT

Experiences of loneliness are common during adolescence and previous research has shown these experiences to be related to physical and mental ill-being. However, there is limited knowledge of one kind of loneliness during adolescence – existential loneliness – which can challenge the possibilities of offering adequate support. Narrations of experiences in retrospect may lead to a deepened understanding of a phenomenon. Therefore, this study aims to describe the phenomenon of existential loneliness during adolescence through Swedish university students’ retrospective written narratives (n = 67). The study has a qualitative design with a phenomenological approach, and the data were analysed inductively. The findings show that existential loneliness during adolescence means feeling empty and lost while painfully trapped in an alienating borderland in the search for belonging, sense of self, and meaning. This knowledge can be used as a basis for the development of interventions aiming at supporting adolescents’ well-being.

KEYWORDS:

• Existential loneliness
• adolescent
• phenomenological study
• qualitative research
• narration
• retrospective

Acknowledgments

We are most grateful to the university students who participated in this study and so generously shared their experiences. We would also like to thank the Research Platform for Collaboration for Health, the Research Environment Children’s and Young People’s Health in Social Context, and the Faculty of Health Science at Kristianstad University, for financial support.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/02673843.2024.2353205

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.