People Living Alone More Likely To Feel Depressed, States New Study

Human beings are designed for social interactions and many researches done in the past suggest that a lack of it can impact a person mentally, giving rise to several disorders besides depression.

Many people live away from their families and friends, because of reasons like work and studies. It takes a lot of emotional and mental strength -- besides physical -- to move to a new place and establish a life there. While some people find a community, others continue to live by themselves out of choice, or because they have no other option. But, it has been found that adults who live alone are more likely to feel depressed than those who live with other people. Citing a new report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)'s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), a Guardian report stated that 6.4 per cent of adults who lived alone reported feelings of depression, as compared to 4.1 per cent of those who lived with others. In fact, these differences were observable across age groups, gender, income slabs and racial groups.

Some key points

• Per the report, NCHS collected the data during the 2021 National Health Interview Survey, by speaking with more than 29,400 people.
• At the time, 16 per cent of adults in the US lived alone; the percentage has 'risen considerably'.
• As many as 37.9 million people lived alone in 2022.
• The findings suggest that the percentage of single-person households 'more than doubled' between 1962 and 2022 -- from 13.6 per cent to 28.9 per cent.

Economic factors at play?

The findings state that -- as mentioned earlier -- while the gap was observable across most groups, economic factors, in particular, aggravated feelings of depression in those living alone.

The Guardian report stated that adults with 'incomes below the federal poverty line' were 'far more likely to report feeling depressed', regardless of whether they lived alone or with others, compared with adults with 'incomes of 400 per cent or more of the federal poverty limit'.

Key questions to determine feelings of depression

During the course of the research, respondents were asked about the frequency and intensity of their feelings of depression. Another question posed to them was: 'How often do you get the social and emotional support you need?'

It was found that those who lived alone and reported 'never or rarely receiving social and emotional support' were nearly 'twice as likely to feel depressed'. It was also found in the report that there was 'no significant difference in feelings of depression' among those who said they 'always, sometimes, or usually received social and emotional support', regardless of whether they lived alone or with others.

Social interactions

Human beings are designed for social interactions and many researches done in the past suggest that a lack of it can impact a person mentally, giving rise to several disorders besides depression. In 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared loneliness to be a "global public health concern". The aforementioned research comes amid what the US surgeon general Dr Vivek Murthy describes as an "epidemic of loneliness and isolation" in the US.