Loneliness in Children and Adolescents: What Do Schools and Teachers Need to Know and How Can They Help?

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Abstract
In this article the author conducts a brief review of the research on childhood loneliness in school‐age children and the long‐term outcomes, especially in relation to the utility of intervening. She advocates an approach based on increasing social competence, developing mutual friendships and overcoming self‐defeating thought patterns. Whole‐school or whole‐class based interventions are described and recommended. She concludes that all components of loneliness should be addressed, not merely the lack of social skills. She argues that since the long‐term outcomes of loneliness are as yet unknown, there is no practical and ethical justification for focusing interventions on an individual. Interventions that involve the whole‐school or whole‐class are theoretically capable of alleviating loneliness in childhood providing they are not narrowly focused.