Shades of Loneliness: The Educational Divide in Loneliness for Young Men in America After Covid-19

• In Event: 41017 - COVID-19 and Inequalities in Health and Wellbeing

Abstract

The relationship between educational attainment and loneliness remains an underdeveloped aspect of the loneliness literature. It is also unclear how any effects of education may vary across gender and age groups. Utilizing data from an all-male American sample (ages 25-95) taken in 2023 (N=1,765), I examine the relationship between educational attainment and loneliness across three different loneliness outcomes, as well as a compounded measure of all three indicators. I also examine how age moderates the effect of education for each outcome. Results indicate that young men who did not attend college are especially at risk for heightened feelings of loneliness, while the effect of education is less evident among middle-aged and older men. These findings suggest the increasing importance of educational attainment as a structural predictor of male loneliness in younger cohorts, particularly after the Covid-19 pandemic. Implications for these findings are discussed.

Authors

• Riley Scott Peterson, Baylor University

• Terrence D. Hill