This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: About 1 million young people in the UK are not in education, employment or training (NEET). The consequences for their health and income can be significant and long-lasting, with costs to the economy as well.
There's pressure on the government to do something about it. To act effectively, we need to understand why some young people become NEET. Most explanations focus on things like test scores, family socioeconomic background or access to job opportunities.
Our new research points to something else shaping job prospects: whether a child has peers around them while growing up. Social isolation describes having very few social relationships or interactions. For children, who are typically embedded in family and school life, isolation is about being cut off from friends and peers, regardless of how they feel about it.
This is different from loneliness, which is about how a young person feels about their connections. Loneliness arises when there's a mismatch between the relationships we'd like to have and those we have in reality. Although loneliness and isolation often happen together, they can also be experienced separately.
For example, a socially isolated child who is left out of activities or sits alone at recess may not feel lonely, just as a child with plenty of friends could still feel lonely. Loneliness and social isolation have attracted attention for their toll on young people's mental health, fueling concern over a "loneliness epidemic" and prompting a World Health Organization report on the importance of social connection for health. But health isn't the only thing at stake.
Loneliness and isolation may also shape a young person's life chances. Our earlier research showed that lonelier secondary school students go on to have lower educational attainment and worse job prospects when they reach young adulthood. But loneliness may be only part of the picture.
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