🎒 Loneliness among young people
In brief
Loneliness is not just an issue of old age. Several surveys find similarly high or even higher levels of distress among young adults and teenagers than among older people – transitions such as leaving school, starting university or an apprenticeship, moving to a new city or the loss of the school class are typical triggers. Because the subject is often laden with shame for young people, it is raised openly less often than among older people.
Step by step
- Recognise transitions as a riskChanging schools, starting an apprenticeship or studies, moving out of the parental home or separation from a circle of friends are phases with an increased risk of loneliness.
- Use Nummer gegen KummerThe children's and youth helpline (116111, Mon–Sat 2–8 p.m.) is free of charge, anonymous and also reachable by chat/e-mail.
- Check university or training offersMany universities offer first-year tutorials, psychological counselling centres and buddy programmes; vocational schools and employers sometimes offer comparable mentoring programmes.
- Contact open youth work and clubsYouth centres, sports clubs and open youth work under § 11 SGB VIII offer low-threshold, free or inexpensive opportunities to meet people.
- If distress persists, use parenting and family counsellingParents and young people can use free parenting and family counselling (Erziehungs- und Familienberatung) under § 28 SGB VIII if loneliness becomes a lasting burden.
Deadlines
- Private youth studies on loneliness rates commissioned by foundations or companies (e.g. surveys by health insurers or mobile network providers) are methodologically not equivalent to official surveys such as FReDA or the Mikrozensus and should be labelled accordingly.
- High social media use does not automatically mean more or less loneliness; research finds different links depending on the type of use.
- Young people raise loneliness on their own less often than older people – actively asking without being prompted, by parents, teachers or trainers, can help.
- Youth centres and open services are equipped differently from one municipality to another; there is no nationwide uniform offer.
In depth · legal basis, figures and practice – for advisers and professionals
Data situation
Official/scientifically backed panels on loneliness among young people in Germany are the relationship and family panel FReDA (Bundesinstitut für Bevölkerungsforschung, BiB) and partial analyses of the SOEP by the Kompetenznetz Einsamkeit. In addition there are surveys on loneliness among young people commissioned privately or by foundations/companies (e.g. by individual health insurers or foundations), some of which report markedly higher values; owing to differing methodology, sampling and the commissioning party's interests, these are not directly comparable with official figures and are therefore not reproduced here with their own percentages without naming the source directly.
Youth welfare law basis
§ 11 SGB VIII obliges public youth welfare to promote out-of-school youth work (open services, association work, youth counselling). § 28 SGB VIII establishes an entitlement to parenting counselling for clarifying and coping with individual and family-related problems, regardless of the parents' income, with counselling centres run by municipalities or independent providers, nationwide but not uniformly organised.
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