Economic gradients in loneliness, social isolation and social support: Evidence from the UK Biobank

Abstract

Despite the substantial literature on how loneliness is associated with poor health and premature mortality, there is little detailed research on the extent of its economic gradients. We provide this evidence using a sample of around 400,000 respondents aged 40–70 years from the UK Biobank, who were assessed between 2006 and 2010. We focus on differences in loneliness, as well as social isolation and a lack of social support, across educational attainment, household income, local area deprivation, and recent experience of financial stress. We employ two statistical approaches, the first exploiting the large sample size and detailed geographical information about where respondents live, so we compare individuals who differ in their economic status but reside within the same postcode district. The second approach exploits the fact that for around 36,000 respondents we observe their social health and economic circumstances at two points in time (second wave of assessment conducted between 2014 and 2020), so we conduct a panel analysis that accounts for intercorrelations between the social health measures, and controls for incomplete follow-up of panel members. Across both approaches, we find a substantially higher probability of reporting loneliness, social isolation and a lack of social support, for men and women with lower economic status. Together with the existing health-loneliness literature, these findings establish a ‘loneliness pathway’ contributing to health inequalities, and consequently a need for effective interventions that might address loneliness and social isolation as part of a broad policy initiative on health inequalities.