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

Background. Prior studies suggest that loneliness during the school years may impair later academic performance, yet this association may be confounded by early-life socioenvironmental conditions. We examine (1) whether three early-life socioenvironmental factors (material hardship, neighbourhood conditions, and child maltreatment) and child’s verbal ability at age of 5 are associated with childhood loneliness and its persistence from ages 5 to 9; and (2) whether childhood loneliness is associated with three educational achievement indicators (low high school grades, out-of-school suspension, and educational attainment) at age 22 after adjusting for early-life socioenvironmental factors. Methods. We used data from a U.S. birth-cohort study, the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (original sample collected in 1998, n = 4,898; study sample n = 2,456). Loneliness was measured using the item “Child complains of loneliness,” reported by the primary caregiver. We applied binomial logistic regression to address the first research question and generalized propensity score weighting and weighted g-computation to explore the second question. Results. Among the children in our sample, 24.6% experienced transient loneliness, while 6.8% experienced persistent loneliness. Higher material hardship (OR= 1.17, 95% CI= 1.07-1.28) and child maltreatment (OR=1.19, 95% CI= 1.08-1.30) early in life were associated with higher odds of childhood loneliness. Moreover, higher material hardship was associated with higher odds of persistent loneliness (OR= 1.39, 95% CI= 1.21-1.60). Childhood loneliness was not associated with high-school grades, out-of-school suspension, or educational attainment in young adulthood. Conclusions. Early-life adversities are associated with childhood loneliness and its persistence. However, there was no evidence of an association between childhood loneliness and educational achievement in young adulthood.