Loneliness in the Norwegian adolescent population: prevalence trends and relations to mental and self-rated health

Table 1 Characteristics of the sample population by survey year

SURVEY YEAR	Young-HUNT1 1995–1997		Young-HUNT3 2006–2008		Young-HUNT4 2017–2019
	N	%	N	%	N	%
	8980	100	8199	100	8066	100
GENDER
Girls	4464	49.7	4128	50.3	4108	50.9
Boys	4516	50.3	4071	49.7	3958	49.1
AGE
13–15 years	3002	33.4	3083	37.6	2676	33.2
16–19 years	5978	66.6	5116	62.4	5390	66.8
LONELINESS
Rarely lonely	8305	92.5	6908	84.3	6925	85.8
Very lonely	533	5.9	735	9.0	819	10.2
Missing	142	1.6	556	6.8	322	4
Total	8980	100	8199	100	8066	100
MENTAL DISTRESS (Hopkins Symptom Checklist – 5 (HSCL-5)) *
Low (HSCL < 2)	7436	82.8	6465	78.9	5431	67.3
High (HSCL ≥ 2)	1404	15.3	1562	19.0	2423	29.8
Girls	945	21.4	1121	27.6	1790	44.5
Boys	459	10.4	441	11.1	633	16.5
13–15 years	322	10.9	428	14.2	561	21.6
16–19 years	1082	18.4	1134	22.6	1862	35.4
Missing	140	1.6	172	2.1	212	2.6
SELF-RATED HEALTH
Poor self-rated health	968	10.8	874	10.7	1118	13.9
Girls	530	12.1	499	12.3	671	16.5
Boys	438	9.9	375	9.3	447	11.4
13–15 years	274	9.3	233	7.7	251	9.5
16–19 years	694	11.8	641	12.7	867	16.2
Good self-rated health	7859	87.5	7212	88	6868	85.1
Missing	153	1.7	113	1.4	80	1
SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS
Low	6724	74.9	708	8.6	629	7.8
Moderate to high	1936	21.6	6928	84.5	7318	90.7
Missing	320	3.5	563	6.9	119	1.5
CLOSE FRIENDS
No friends	143	1.6	113	1.4	100	1.2
One or more friends	8647	96.3	7628	93	7929	98.3
Missing	190	2.1	458	5.6	37	0.5
PARENT’S CIVIL STATUS
Not divorced	6956	77.5	5396	65.8	5306	65.8
Divorced	1741	19.4	2234	27.2	2663	33
Missing	283	3.1	569	7	97	1.2

ISSN: 1471-244X