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We’re a Teen Residential Treatment Facility in Arizona & Idaho, offering support for teens and resources to help parents navigate their child’s challenges.
Teen loneliness is the painful feeling a young person gets when their relationships with others aren’t what they hope for. Seeing your teenager struggle with this can be incredibly difficult. This guide offers ways to support and help them socialize in a safe way.
Why teens feel lonely
Several factors can contribute to these feelings:
Life changes and situations
Specific events or circumstances can trigger or worsen feelings of loneliness in teens and young adults. These can include:
- Relationships ending: Losing a friendship or romantic relationship can lead to loneliness.
- Moving to a new place: Changing towns or schools means leaving behind existing social networks.
- Difficulty adjusting to new things: Struggling to adapt to changes can make it harder to form new connections.
- Time away from friends: Illness or other reasons for forced separation can cause loneliness.
- Big transitions: Moving from middle to high school or leaving school altogether can affect their friendships.
- Negative school environment: Strict discipline or discrimination can lead to loneliness and isolation.
Challenges with peer relationships
Difficulties connecting with friends or classmates are a common reason adolescents feel lonely. These challenges can include:
- Having few close friends: They might lack people they feel truly connected to or can spend time with.
- Negative interactions: This includes being rejected by peers, being picked on at school, or facing bullying.
- Lack of belonging: They might feel different, misunderstood, or invisible within social groups.
Issues within the family
- Difficult family relationships: A lack of emotional closeness with parents or siblings can lead to loneliness.
- An unhappy home life: Ongoing tension or conflict at home can affect their mood and sense of connection with others.
Background factors
Certain aspects of a teenager’s background can be associated with a higher risk of loneliness. These include:
- Immigration background: Moving away from social ties or facing language and cultural barriers can increase loneliness for immigrant teens.
- Lower family income: This can mean more stress or frequent moving, making it harder to build and maintain a stable social life.
Are teens experiencing loneliness more than before?
Recent studies show that teenagers today are lonelier than in the past.
- According to the Cigna survey, Gen Z (ages 18–22) reported the highest loneliness levels. The study also claims that loneliness tends to decrease with age.
- Globally, school loneliness increased from 2000 to 2018, most of this happening after 2012. One study found that 36 of 37 countries saw more loneliness in teens from 2012 to 2018.
- The study also reported that the number of teens feeling lonely at school nearly doubled from 2000 to 2018, jumping from 17.1% in 2012 to 30.9% in 2018. The increase was larger for girls (93.4%) than boys (66.4%).
- According to the CDC, 58.5% of teens (ages 12–17) in the U.S. said they usually got the emotional support they needed between July 2021 and December 2022. That means 41.5% did not. Teens who got support were less likely to report anxiety, depression, poor sleep, or low life satisfaction.
Reasons why young people are more lonelier than before
- More smartphone use and internet access after 2012 may be linked to this rise.
- Teens spend more time online and less time hanging out in person. This can lead to weaker relationships.
- In a 2024 survey, 45% of U.S. teens said they spent too much time on social media, up from 36% in 2022.
- A survey reported that more teens think social media is bad for people their age—48% said so in 2024 vs. 32% in 2022.
- Only 52% of teens in 2024 said social media helped them during hard times, down from 67% in 2022, according to Pew Research 2025
- The Pew Research also reported that teens admitted that social media made them feel bad due to drama (39%), pressure to get likes (31%), feeling left out (31%), or comparing their lives to others (27%).
- One study found that teens compared themselves to fake or filtered online lives, making them feel worse.
Effects of loneliness on mental health
Loneliness can take a serious toll on a teenager’s mental health. It often brings painful emotions that affect how they feel and function. Here’s what it can lead to over time:
Emotional effects
Loneliness often appears alongside emotional and mental struggles in young people:
- Unpleasant emotions: Feelings of sadness, restlessness, emptiness, or being unloved are common.
- Connection to mental health issues: Research shows that loneliness might be linked to depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts or behaviors.
- Loss of meaning and belonging: It can create a sense of hopelessness, low self-worth, and feeling like an outsider.
Effects on physical health
Loneliness affects more than mood—it can also hurt physical health:
- Chronic stress: Feeling lonely raises stress levels and strains the body.
- Physical symptoms: This stress can lead to headaches, fatigue, and other complaints.
- Weakened body systems: Loneliness may affect immune response, heart function, and hormone levels.
- Poor sleep: Lonely teens often sleep poorly or feel less rested.
- Linked health conditions: Loneliness is tied to poor health, weight gain, and heart problems.
- Lasting effects: Loneliness in childhood and adolescence can impact health and sleep into adulthood.
- Increased mortality risk: Being socially isolated may raise the risk of early death.
Long-term effects
For some teens, loneliness doesn’t fade. It can follow them into adult life:
- Chronic emotional strain: Long-term loneliness creates lasting stress that may harm long-term well-being.
- Lower academic outcomes: Teens who were lonely earlier in life often perform worse in school.
- Social and economic impact: Long-term loneliness can hurt school success, make it harder to get good jobs, and lower the chances of moving up in life.
- Enduring risks: Even after loneliness fades, early experiences may still influence future mental and physical health.
How to support lonely teens
Offer steady emotional support
To offer emotional support, you can:
- Help them feel heard: Focus more on listening than giving advice. Sometimes, feeling heard is more important than hearing a solution.
- Ask how they’re doing: Create a space for honest, pressure-free conversations. Even if they don’t share much at first, just showing you care matters.
- Show up consistently: Let them know you’re there, even during awkward or quiet moments. Reliability builds trust, which may help them open up over time.
- Validate their feelings: Avoid trying to “fix” things right away. Instead, say things like, “That sounds hard” or “I get why you’d feel that way.”
Support healthier tech use
Constant scrolling and online comparison can make loneliness worse. Try to:
- Support offline time: Suggest low-stress offline activities you can do together. Small things like a walk, movie night, or shared meal can help.
- Limit screen time gently: Bring up breaks from screens as a shared goal, not a punishment. Frame it as something you can both try together.
- Switch to active connection: Encourage texting or video chatting with real friends instead of browsing. Active interaction tends to feel more meaningful than passive scrolling.
- Talk about online pressure: Help them name what makes them feel bad online. Naming it can reduce its power, whether it’s “likes,” drama, or comparison.
Help them navigate change
Big life changes can bring sudden loneliness. To prevent this:
- Remind them they’re not failing: Loneliness during change is normal, not a flaw. Sometimes, just hearing that is a relief.
- Prepare them for transitions: Talk ahead of time about moves to high school, college, or new social settings. Naming challenges early may help them feel less alone when they show up.
- Check-in during life changes: Don’t assume silence means they’re okay. Ask how things are going and what’s been harder than expected.
- Encourage meaningful connections: Suggest ways to reach out to others, volunteer, or join new groups. Even one positive connection can improve one’s sense of belonging and self-esteem.
Create a sense of belonging
Feeling like you don’t matter is deeply painful. To help them overcome this feeling:
- Watch for signs of disconnect: Look for signs like withdrawal, silence, or sudden changes. These may point to deeper loneliness or feeling unseen.
- Include them meaningfully: Ask for their opinions and involve them in small decisions. This helps them feel seen and valued.
- Let them express themselves without fear: Support honest self-expression without reacting harshly or correcting them. It tells them their thoughts are safe with you.
- Support school connection: Ask if the school feels welcoming or isolating. If not, help them explore ways to connect through clubs, teachers, and activities.
Make support easy to find
Your child may feel lonely because they don’t know where to turn. You can:
- Offer without forcing: Let them know you’re available without pushing them to open up. Sometimes, knowing support is nearby is enough for now.
- Name trusted adults: Help them list people they could talk to in school or outside. Having options makes it easier to reach out when needed.
- Talk about help without shame: Normalize using counselors, therapists, or mental health services. It sends the message that needing support is human, not weak.
- Ask about their views: Teens may feel adults overestimate the support they get. Ask directly: “Do you feel like I support you the way you need?”
The comfort of pets
Pets provide unique emotional support for teenagers experiencing loneliness.
When feeling isolated, a pet can offer these benefits:
- Daily structure: Caring for a pet involves regular feeding and grooming tasks, which can add purpose and routine to your day.
- Constant presence: A pet creates a less empty home environment by always being available for interaction.
- Judgment-free affection: Pets provide love and acceptance without conditions, offering comfort when human relationships feel challenging.
- Physical calming: Petting a dog or cat can lower stress hormones and promote relaxation in your body.
- Outdoor engagement: Having a dog often necessitates walks and playtime outside, giving you opportunities for fresh air and gentle movement.
Taking the next steps
Loneliness is more common than most teens or adults realize. It doesn’t mean something is wrong with them—it just means they’re human.
With the right support, teens can develop confidence in social settings, and feel less isolated over time.
If you’re looking for more practical ways to help your teen connect, read these guides:
- 16 social skills for teens – Simple, realistic skills that help teens feel more confident in conversations and group settings.
- How to help teens make friends – For teens who don’t know where to start or feel like they’ve “missed their chance.”
- 16 communication activities for teens – Light, low-pressure ways to practice talking, listening, and connecting.
- How to help an autistic teen make friends – Tailored strategies that support teens who experience socializing differently.
Sources
- Jean M. Twenge, Journal of Adolescence, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2021.06.006
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2024, November 29). Youth mental health: The numbers. https://www.cdc.gov/healthy-youth/mental-health/mental-health-numbers.html
- Cigna. (2018, May). American adults are considered lonely, as revealed by new Cigna study. https://www.multivu.com/players/English/8294451-cigna-us-loneliness-survey/docs/IndexReport_1524069371598-173525450.pdf
- Faverio, M., Anderson, M., & Park, E. (2025, April 22). Social media and teens’ mental health: What teens and their parents say. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2025/04/22/teens-social-media-and-mental-health/
- Matthews, T., Qualter, P., Bryan, B. T., Caspi, A., Danese, A., Moffitt, T. E., Odgers, C. L., Strange, L., & Arseneault, L. (2022). The developmental course of loneliness in adolescence: Implications for mental health, educational attainment, and psychosocial functioning. Development and Psychopathology, 35(2), 537–546. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579421001632
- Fardghassemi, S., & Joffe, H. (2022). The causes of loneliness: The perspective of young adults in London’s most deprived areas. PLoS One, 17(4), e0264638. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0264638
- Zablotsky, B., Ng, A. E., Black, L. I., Bose, J., Jones, J. R., Maitland, A. K., & Blumberg, S. J. (2024). Perceived social and emotional support among teenagers: United States, July 2021–December 2022 (National Health Statistics Reports No. 206). National Center for Health Statistics. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr206.pdf
- Wodika, A., Lanier, J., Almeda, J., Richter, A., & Schalasky, G. (2024). Helping Students Make Meaningful Connections: A Cross-Sectional Survey of College Student Loneliness. American Journal of Health Education, 16(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/19325037.2024.2396586