Growing Up Socially Isolated Linked to Higher Risk of Becoming NEET, Study Finds

About 1 million young people in the UK are classified as Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET), a status linked to long-lasting effects on health and income. New research led by Bridget T. Bryan finds that whether a child has peers around them while growing up plays an important role in shaping these outcomes, separate from how lonely the child feels.

The researchers distinguish social isolation, having few actual social interactions regardless of how a person feels about it, from loneliness, a mismatch between the relationships someone wants and what they actually have. The two often occur together but can also happen separately: an isolated child left out of activities may not feel lonely, while a child with many friends can still feel lonely.

The study followed 2,232 people from birth into young adulthood, assessing loneliness and social isolation separately at age 12 and comparing them with education and employment outcomes at age 18. Both factors mattered, but isolation was especially influential: more socially isolated students went on to have fewer qualifications and be less employable, an association two to three times as strong as other risk factors such as childhood mental health difficulties. The most isolated children were about 2.4 times more likely to become NEET by age 18, a link not explained by earlier mental health, loneliness or socioeconomic background.

The researchers also tested whether feeling lonely helped isolated children reconnect with peers over time. Isolated children who felt lonely at age 12 were just as isolated at 18 as isolated children who had not felt lonely, meaning loneliness on its own did not lead to reconnection. The UK government has committed £2.5 billion to improving youth employment through job-skills strategies.