Early-life adversity, childhood loneliness, and young adulthood educational achievement: a prospective study

We examine (1) whether indicators of early-life adversity are associated with children’s loneliness complaints and their recurrence at ages 5 and 9; and (2) whether children’s loneliness complaints are associated with poorer educational achievement measured at age 22 after adjusting for early-life adversity indicators. We used data from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (US, original sample n=4,898; study sample n=2,456). Children’s loneliness complaints were reported by the principal caregiver. We applied (1) binomial logistic regression and (2) weighted g-computation. In our sample, 6.8% of children had recurrent caregiver-reported loneliness complaints. Indicators of socioenvironmental early-life adversity were associated with higher odds of loneliness complaints. Moreover, higher material hardship and lower neighborhood collective efficacy were associated with higher odds of complaints recurring at ages 5 and 9. We observed no association between caregiver-reported loneliness in childhood and later educational achievement. We note limitations in our measurement of childhood loneliness.