Loneliness, the subjective feeling of a lack of meaningful social connections or a sense of belongingness, is a pervasive and distressing phenomenon affecting individuals across various age groups and populations. It remains a robust field of study given the number of people who experience it, either situationally or persistently. Because loneliness is a pervasive emotional experience, research has examined the way loneliness is experienced within certain populations such as older men,1 adolescents,2 and other specific groups. But one common denominator that often permeates such research is the impact of age.

Eileen K. Graham et al. (2024) examined whether people become lonelier as they age.3 Recognizing loneliness as a “pervasive experience” that negatively impacts both health and well-being, they sought to explore what types of factors impact the way the experience changes over the lifespan.

Analyzing data from 128,118 participants ranging in age from 13 to 103 years and from more than 20 countries, they found that the experience of loneliness follows a U-shaped curve, declining from the period of young adulthood........

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