BACKGROUND COLOUR

Apart… and alone

Insights
.
ANU Poll
.
13 Aug 2021
Health + Mental Health + Pandemic
Based on the work of
Nicholas BiddleBen EdwardsMatthew GrayKate Sollis

The number of people feeling lonely at least some of the time during the COVID-19 pandemic fell between April and May 2020. Females reported loneliness at higher rates than males in both months. Younger people reported much higher rates of loneliness than those aged 45 and over.

10 %

There was a 10% fall in males who report being lonely some of the time between April and May 2020 (from 42% to 32%).

41 %

Females reporting loneliness fell by 9% between April and May to 41%.

60 %

18-24 year olds had the highest percentage of loneliness with 60% saying they felt lonely at least some of the time.

21 %

Those aged 75 and over reported the lowest levels of loneliness with 21% in May 2020.

Per cent of Australians who Reported Being Lonely at Least Some of the Time, by sex and age (April to May 2020)
How often have you felt lonely in the past week? 1. Rarely or none of the time (less than 1 day) 2. Some or a little of the time (1-2 days) 3. Occasionally or a moderate amount of time (3-4 days) 4. Most or all of the time (5-7 days)
Sources & Methodology
Variable description % who reported at least some of the time, by sex and age
Variable time span April 2020 - May 2020
Published by ANU Poll
Publisher Link https://csrm.cass.anu.edu.au/research/publications/mental-health-and-relationships-during-covid-19-pandemic
Data Source doi:10.26193/GNEHCQ
© Copyright 2021, Centre for Social Research and Methods, Australian National University.
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Background

ANU Poll is a quarterly survey of Australian public opinion. The topic of each survey is an issue of national importance. ANUpoll differs from other opinion polls by placing public opinion in a broad policy context, and by benchmarking Australia against international opinion. lt is also able to follow trends in opinions over many decades.

ANUpoll is collected by the Social Research Centre's panel, Life in AustraliaTM. The Social Research Centre collected data online and through Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) in order to ensure representation from the offline Australian population.

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Researchers

Professor Nicholas Biddle is Associate Director of the ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods and Director of the newly created Policy Experiments Lab (http://csrm.cass.anu.edu.au/pelab). He has a Bachelor of Economics (Hons.) from the University of Sydney and a Master of Education from Monash University. He also has a PhD in Public Policy from the ANU where he wrote his thesis on the benefits of and participation in education of Indigenous Australians. He previously held a Senior Research Officer and Assistant Director position in the Methodology Division of the Australian Bureau of Statistics and is currently a Fellow of the Tax and Transfer Policy Institute.

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Associate Professor Ben Edwards is a Senior Fellow at the ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods. An expert in longitudinal and life course studies and quantitative social scientist, Ben focuses on public policy research in the area of child and adolescent development, informal carers, intergenerational impacts of trauma (e.g. veterans, refugees) and natural disasters (e.g. drought, bushfires, cumulative disasters). He is a member of scientific advisory groups for the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, Longitudinal Survey of Australian Youth, Generation Victoria and a longitudinal cohort study in the Philippines. Ben has advised the OECD, United Nations and Australian Federal and State Government departments in designing longitudinal studies and evaluations, child welfare, non-cognitive skills, and crime prevention.

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Professor Matthew Gray is Director of the ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods. Previous positions include Director of the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, Director of Research for the College of Arts and Social Sciences and Deputy Director of the Australian Institute of Family Studies (2005–2010). He has published research on a wide range of social and economic policy issues including those related to Indigenous Australians. He has particular expertise in work and family issues, labour economics, social capital and social inclusion, measuring wellbeing, the economic consequences of divorce, child support, and social and economic policy development. He has undertaken extensive work on economic policy issues involving Indigenous Australians, including health status, labour market outcomes, poverty and the CDEP scheme.

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Kate Sollis is a Research Officer and PhD Candidate at the ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods. Her background is in statistics and social policy, with a particular interest in the measurement of wellbeing. She has previously worked as a Research Officer at ARACY (The Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth) and the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

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Citation

Biddle, N., Edwards, B., Gray, M. & Sollis, K., ANU Poll Mental health and relationships during the COVID-19 pandemic, [Computer file]. Canberra: Australian Data Archive, The Australian National University, 2020.

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