Citation

Rönkä AR, Sunnari V, Taanila A. Int. J. Qual. Stud. Health Well-Being 2020; 15(1): e1838101.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Co-Action Pub.)

DOI

10.1080/17482631.2020.1838101

PMID

33135604

Abstract

PURPOSE: If a person experiences both loneliness and mental ill health, it may have severe effects on a person's wellbeing and functioning. This study explored the ways in which loneliness may be entangled with mental ill health and the factors that contribute to the development of such entanglements.

METHODS: The study participants were women from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 study, who, in 2001-2002, responded to the survey about being very lonely at the age of 15-16. Women (n = 17) were interviewed again at age 27-28 with semi-structured interviews. Data was analysed with thematic analysis.

RESULTS: Loneliness and mental ill health formed four types of entanglements: Entanglement 1 (E1): "Loneliness periodically evoked depressive feelings"; E2: "Loneliness and depressive feelings formed an ongoing spiral"; E3: "Loneliness and diagnosed depression/serious emotional disturbance formed periodic spirals;" and E4: "Serious emotional disturbance/mental illness and loneliness formed an ongoing, difficult spiral." Social adversities like unsafe family environment, lack of close friends, and school violence contributed to the development of Entanglements 1-3. In Entanglement 4, serious mental health disorder caused loneliness.

CONCLUSIONS: Loneliness was centrally linked to mental health issues in the present study and should be taken into consideration when providing mental health prevention and treatment.

Language: en

Keywords

violence; women; young adults; girls; Loneliness; mental health disorders; social issues