The Association Between Loneliness and Depressive/Eating Disorder Symptoms

Abstract

Loneliness involves an individual’s subjective perception of their inadequate connections to others. Because of the high loneliness rates among adolescents, as well as the health consequences associated with loneliness, it is important to examine this construct among adolescents. Prior research suggests there is an association between both loneliness and depressive symptoms and loneliness and eating disorder symptoms, though the impact of gender is unclear. Moreover, prior research has not examined which of these disorders has a stronger association with loneliness. This study, utilizing a sample of 238 high school students, examined: (1) whether there was an association between loneliness and depressive symptoms (cross-sectionally and longitudinally); (2) whether there was an association between loneliness and eating disorder symptoms (cross-sectionally and longitudinally); (3) whether the association was stronger for loneliness and depressive symptoms or loneliness and eating disorder symptoms; and (4) whether gender influenced these associations. Results indicated there were cross-sectional associations between loneliness and depressive symptoms and loneliness and eating disorder symptoms (all p values < .001), but loneliness was not predictive of changes in either type of symptom (all p values > .05); findings were similar across genders. Moreover, while the correlation between loneliness and depressive symptoms was stronger than the correlation between loneliness and eating disorder symptoms, this is likely due to the overlap in the constructs of loneliness and depression. Given the associations between loneliness and depressive/eating disorder symptoms, clinicians should consider loneliness when treating individuals with these disorders. Nevertheless, further research should expand on this study’s findings.