severe loneliness ‘ubiquitous in canada’ during pandemic lockdowns, study says

immigrants and people with pandemic-related job instability were especially vulnerable to feeling lonely.

by dave yasvinski

published nov 08, 2022

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one in three canadians had 'severe' loneliness during the pandemic

new research has estimated that 34.7 per cent of the population struggled with solitude as the country turned to lockdowns to slow the spread of covid-19 in early 2021. getty

a new study has found that more than one in three canadians experienced severe loneliness during the second wave of the pandemic. the research, published in the journal of affective disorders, estimated that 34.7 per cent of the population struggled with solitude as the country turned to lockdowns to slow the spread of covid-19 in early 2021. the estimate is considerably higher than the 14 to 27 per cent rate of loneliness found in other areas of the world during the pandemic.

“this concerning magnitude implies that during the pandemic lockdown, severe loneliness was ubiquitous in canada,” said lamson lin shen, sole author of the study and assistant professor at city university of hong kong’s department of social and behavioural sciences. “this is probably due to the disruption in daily social activities, which normally help people cope with stress, as well as the intense social isolation caused by the lockdown measures implemented in many provinces of canada.”

to uncover population patterns of loneliness, the study took a machine-learning approach to data from the canadian perspective survey series, which was collected during the second wave of covid (in late january 2021). after applying classification and regression tree (cart) modelling to the study’s 3,772 participants, the researcher found that migrants who experienced pandemic-related job insecurity were one of the groups most at risk of severe loneliness, as defined by the standardized ucla 3-item loneliness scale.

“it is not surprising that immigrants were particularly vulnerable to isolation and loneliness in pre-pandemic times, because they were in a new environment, where they may have faced a variety of post-migration stressors, such as language obstacles, limited social networks and a diminished sense of community belonging,” lin said. “what struck me the most is that my study discovered the double jeopardy of immigrant status and an unstable job situation during the covid period.”

people who experienced job instability during the pandemic, according to lin, had double the odds of experiencing severe loneliness compared to those with secure employment, even after accounting for socioeconomic and other confounding variables. for those dealing with insecure employment, the rate of loneliness was much higher among immigrants than canadian-born residents (86.2 per cent vs. 48.7 per cent).

“the covid-19 pandemic amplified immigrants’ susceptibility to loneliness,” lin said. “this may be due to the fact that many migrants to canada are over-represented in low-paid, low-skilled, unstable jobs, such as retail positions, cleaners or cashiers, that require extensive interaction with the public, so they are at greater occupational risk of covid-19 infection and consequential employment insecurity.”

the researcher also identified a few at-risk groups for loneliness that are consistent with normal times, including youth, women, people with low levels of education, people who live alone, people with social circles of less than three people, binge drinkers and past-month cannabis users.

the research also revealed that, compared to canadians who are not experiencing loneliness, severely lonely individuals in canada were 1.7 times more likely to seek treatment from mental health professionals, 1.5 times more likely to seek informal support for mental health concerns and 1.8 times more likely to have mental health needs that have not been addressed.

“my findings further shed light on the importance of building an equitable mental health care system in the pandemic response and recovery in canada and other immigrant-receiving countries of the world,” lin said. “primary care providers and mental health clinicians should assess loneliness symptoms in their routine patient examinations. at the community level, social care organizations should develop early prevention and intervention programs targeting high-risk groups with a greater burden of loneliness, especially for immigrant and marginalized populations.”