Substance Abuse During an Epidemic of Loneliness

Lockdowns in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic made for a lonely existence for many. While precautions were in place to avoid transmitting COVID-19, face masks, social distancing, and an eventual vaccine, loneliness seeped into people across America, proving for many a two-year epidemic that was never treated. Many sought comfort, escape, or relief through drugs and alcohol.

As the pandemic raged, Renae Danielle Schmidt, co-authored the research paper “Loneliness, Mental Health, and Substance Use among US Young Adults during COVID-19,” where she and her research partners sought to identify trends in increased substance use and abuse among young people. Schmidt began looking into loneliness as a predictor of opioid overdoes in the US before COVID-19 hit.

“Does loneliness prompt people to think there is something missing there that causes individuals to turn to drugs or something like that to try to fill that void?” Schmidt asked. “Other research has also shown opioids stimulate the same part of the brain social connectedness does so others have kind of alluded to this, there may be a link there between a more disconnected society and an opioid epidemic.”

When COVID-19 hit the focus of Schmidt’s research changed, she had begun to look specifically at loneliness in young adults after a 2019 paper concluded they are the loneliest demographic, moreso than the elderly as previously believed. Schmidt suspected social media played a role in the correlation as young people trended toward spending their time in an online atmosphere, COVID-19 of course exacerbated a digital reality.  

“We found alarming levels of loneliness, depression, anxiety, and substance use, specifically drinking and drug use across young adults,” said Schmidt.

The cross-sectional study was conducted with young adults aged 18-35, 49% of respondents reported loneliness scores above 50 on the UCLA loneliness scale, the scale doesn’t have thresholds indicating things like clinically significant loneliness, but Schmidt and previous writers consider results above 50 to be alarming scores. 80% of respondents indicated significant depressive symptoms, 61% reported moderate to severe anxiety, 30% disclosed harmful levels of drinking, and while only 22% reported using drugs 38% of drug users reported severe drug use.

“I think that because [young adults] were already lonely to begin with, these are kind of the effects of COVID here this day. I think the social media addiction and all these things are boiling up to be a terrible storm,” said Schmidt. 

Their model revealed loneliness and social connectedness are directly related to both anxiety and depression, and anxiety is directly related to both alcohol and drug use severity. The model returned stark worsening results during COVID-19 across the board in areas concerning loneliness and substance use. Most participants who reported increased feelings of loneliness during COVID-19 indicated an increase in drinking (58%), drug use (56%), anxiety (76%), depression (78%), and a decrease in feelings of connectedness (58%). Their estimates suggest symptoms could have worsened since the pandemic. 

“These are alarming findings that say young adults were suffering a lot. To further draw this link between loneliness and depression, anxiety, and substance abuse symptoms we did a latent class analysis by level of their responses to loneliness and connectedness. So instead of just looking at the scale score, we analyze their responses to the levels of loneliness and connectedness to see if we could see any patterns there. And we found those with the highest levels of loneliness responding that they feel very isolated, and they don't have a group of friends, or their friends don't feel like family, and they feel very lonely. Those are the ones that had the highest depression, anxiety, and substance use as well.

“I just feel like for those who were already lonely COVID just escalated it further. I can't say that this is happening only among young adults, but this group is suffering from loneliness. Those who are kind of feeling already socially isolated, and lonely and disconnected are experiencing these other negative symptoms. This is what we found. That's kind of the alarming problem,” said Schmidt. 

Schmidt’s findings lead her to believe investment in developing a sense of cohesion and social connectedness among younger generations may promote social and physical resiliency among them and the communities at large. 

“Rather than only reacting to the negative impacts of an increasingly disconnected world, with everyone locked onto their screens, we should prevent the problem by promoting and fostering connections throughout the lifespan. Otherwise, I fear we risk sinking deeper into the loneliness epidemic and will see more of the consequences that accompany it.”