Loneliness is strongly linked with poorer mental health in adolescents, with the impact of loneliness on adolescents' mental health varying depending on the school they attend, a study has found.
Published in the British Journal of Educational Psychology, the research is thought to be the first to explore the association between loneliness and mental health in schools. It identifies that school-based interventions targeting mental health may be especially necessary among lonely adolescents, and says programmes aimed at tackling loneliness may be more beneficial in schools with poorer mental health.
The Scottish research analysed pre-existing data on 5,286 pupils with an average age of 13-and-a-half at 208 schools. Just over half the sample were girls.
