Pamela Qualter
Biographic Data
| ID | 178810 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Pamela Qualter |
| GIVEN NAMES | Pamela |
| FAMILY NAME | Qualter |
| SIGNATURE | QUALTER P |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Manchester |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-6114-3820 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 64 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 53 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 64 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2005 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Pathways linking the built environment and loneliness
It is increasingly recognised that the built environment influences the experience of loneliness, but the pathways linking them built environment and loneliness are not sufficiently understood. Addressing this gap is crucial for developing inclusive policies and guiding the planning and design of built environment interventions aimed at reducing loneliness. This scoping review and conceptual synthesis aimed to advance understanding of these pathw…
National policy responses to address loneliness
BACKGROUND: Loneliness is associated with adverse physical and mental health outcomes. It affects individuals across all age groups and geographical regions. OBJECTIVE: To characterise the extent that WHO Member States address loneliness, social isolation and social connection through national policies. METHODS: We searched government websites using key terms. A matrix was used to extract data, followed by in-depth document analysis. RESULTS: By …
What’s in a Scale – Multidimensionality or Wording Artifact? A Comprehensive Psychometric Analysis of the Rasch-Type Loneliness Scale
500), we examined the dimensionality and Rasch-conformity of the original and two manipulated versions of the RTLS-6, featuring uniformly worded items toward loneliness and different numbers of response categories. Overall, the results support a two-factor structure of the scale, which remains robust even when wording effects are ruled out. Multidimensional, polytomous Rasch analyses suggest that a four-point intensity response format is most app…
Child and school staff perceptions and experiences of universal social and emotional learning curricula in context
BACKGROUND: There is increasing interest in the circumstances under which universal school-based social and emotional learning (SEL) interventions can be most effective, and how implementation moderates intervention outcomes. We focus on the implementation of 'Passport Skills for Life', an SEL intervention that has been introduced into over 100 schools in England to date. AIM: We examined the experiences and perceptions of both school staff and c…
Does Romantic Involvement Benefit Everyone? Testing a Foundational Tenet in Relationship Science Through the Case of Asexuality
It is established that romantic relationships can benefit well-being and buffer against loneliness. But is that true for everyone? We put this foundational tenet of relationship science to the test by examining whether asexual people (i.e., people who generally do not experience sexual attraction and desire) benefit from romantic involvement. Results from the BBC Loneliness Experiment showed that, unlike heterosexual ( N = 36,464) and other sexua…
A systematic review of facilitators and barriers to school staff development projects using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research
This paper is a systematic literature review (SLR) of research published between 2009 and 2022 that aims to identify facilitators and barriers to implementing staff development projects (SDPs) in schools in England. Twelve research papers fulfilled all inclusion criteria and were each evaluated as being at least medium‐quality research. The included research papers were analysed using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR),…
School is their whole world’
As front‐line observers and active participants in pupils' daily lives, teachers closely monitor pupils' social interactions, emotional states and behavioural changes. Their unique perspective enables them to detect problems in the social lives of their pupils that may not be immediately visible to peers, parents or mental health professionals. The current study captures the perspectives of 16 teachers (8 from England and 8 from China) on pupil l…
“You Could Sit and Think, I’m Not Alone with This”
Challenges relating to children and families are often complex; however, solutions can be creative. An arts organisation consulted with a multi-professional group on introducing the arts and culture to families from birth. This action research details and evaluates an innovative multi-professional creative project designed to support families in the North of England. Multi-professional stakeholder planning meetings decided the outcome of the proj…
Ability emotional intelligence amplifies affective responses to social media content in young people
Social media can be a pertinent stressor for young people. Exposure to distressing material online can be especially challenging to navigate in adolescence, since self- regulation skills are still developing. Emotional intelligence (EI) represents a range of emotion skills and self-perceptions, including emotion regulation that, in theory, should help adolescents regulate their emotions online effectively. The current paper uses mixed methods to …
The effect of a universal, school-based social and emotional learning intervention (passport
Internalizing mental health difficulties impair quality of life, and their prevalence increases significantly during the transition from childhood to adolescence. This parallel cluster randomized controlled trial examined whether a universal, school-based social and emotional learning intervention (Passport: Skills for Life) could reduce internalizing symptoms and related outcomes compared with the usual school curriculum. Passport is implemented…
Loneliness from the Perspective of Young People with Autism and/or ADHD
Background/Objectives: Loneliness is a common experience in adolescence, typically centered around difficulties in relationships with same-age peers and friends. It is often assumed that those diagnosed with autism and/or Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are at greater risk of loneliness than their non-diagnosed peers due to documented difficulties in making and maintaining friendships. Although quantitative research on loneliness …
Loneliness and ease of communication with parents and friends
The study found a remarkably strong negative association between loneliness and ease of communication with parents and friends, especially for girls
Age differences in conceptualisations of loneliness
Loneliness is a common experience during adolescence, yet little research has explored how loneliness is conceptualised and experienced according to adolescents at different stages of development. The current study examines the perspectives of young people aged 8–24 years on experiences of loneliness in youth. Arts-based workshops and focus groups (n = 145) were conducted to explore youths' perspectives on loneliness, youth were grouped according…
Are loneliness interventions effective for reducing loneliness? A meta-analytic review of 280 studies
Loneliness is increasingly recognized as a critical public health concern, with growing evidence of the effectiveness of interventions to reduce loneliness across the lifespan. This preregistered systematic review and meta-analysis evaluated the effectiveness of interventions to reduce loneliness. The systematic review identified 312 studies. The meta-analysis included 280 studies (273 studies of short-term effects; 72 studies of long-term effect…
Loneliness among older ethnic minority people
Limited research exists on the experiences of loneliness among older ethnic minority people. Yet, the ageing population is increasingly diverse and health inequalities are growing. It is therefore important to explore how older ethnic minority people experience loneliness to ensure policies meet their needs. This article examines a sample (N = 17) of semi-structured qualitative interviews with older South and East Asian people in Greater Manchest…
Loneliness and teacher-student relationships in children and adolescents
This study synthesized the literature from international and Chinese databases regarding the associations between loneliness and the quality of affective teacher-student relationships (TSRs) among children and adolescents ages 5.34-17.09 years. Forty-seven studies published between 2005 and 2023 were included in a cross-sectional meta-analysis using a multi-level approach. Moderators of the relationship, including culture, study, sample, and meas…
Understanding the psychological, relational, sociocultural, and demographic predictors of loneliness using explainable machine learning
Brief report. Complete research materials, datasets, and data analysis scripts are available at https://osf.io/9mvbk/?view_only=6497e5306e9e47bdbe270a7f82fd1d71
Exploring how children and adolescents talk about coping strategies relating to loneliness using reflexive thematic analysis
Participants described a partially sequential process in choosing coping strategies for loneliness, including effective and maladaptive choices. Effective strategies were highlighted, reflecting developmental stages with the need for self-motivation. Participants noted challenges in engaging in coping due to skill deficits. These findings are crucial for developing interventions specific to this population
Bullying at School, Cyberbullying, and Loneliness
Exposure to bullying at school and cyberbullying are strongly associated with loneliness. It is important to reduce bullying at school and on the internet and to promote effective interventions to reduce continuing loneliness
Trajectories of Loneliness During Adolescence Predict Subsequent Symptoms of Depression and Positive Wellbeing
There is a need to identify the outcomes of changes in loneliness during adolescence, and to consider this within a multidimensional framework of loneliness. This study considered the effects of different trajectories of change in Isolation Loneliness and in Friendship Loneliness upon both positive wellbeing and symptoms of depression. To achieve this, 1782 (43% female; 12.92 years old at the start of the study, SD = 1.60) young people took part …
Changing the narrative
Loneliness is most often understood as resulting from individual deficits that shape poor social engagement and unsatisfying interactions. As a consequence, interventions to address loneliness most often focus on fixing the lonely individual, for example, by modifying their social appraisals and skills, or encouraging them to get out more. In this paper, we characterize and contribute to changing this dominant narrative by arguing that it is both…
Reducing loneliness in the community. More Together (‘Flere i Fællesskaber’)—a complex intervention in Denmark
The mounting evidence that loneliness is a determinant of poor health and well-being underpins the need for effective interventions and community action. ‘More Together’ (MoTo) is a large-scale, complex, multi-component and multi-level intervention for community change that addresses loneliness among young people and older adults in Silkeborg Municipality, Denmark. The intervention is inspired by the Collective Impact framework, and it is practic…
Loneliness During the School Years
BACKGROUND: Substantial evidence links loneliness to poor academic outcomes and poor employment prospects. Schools have been shown to be places that mitigate or aggravate loneliness, suggesting a need to consider how schools can better support youth experiencing loneliness. METHODS: We conducted a narrative review on loneliness in childhood and adolescence to examine the literature on how loneliness changes over the school years and how it influe…
Loneliness in Older Migrants
The results show that the structural factor of the social environment in which older migrants' find themselves, rather than their culture of origin, is more important for older migrants' feelings of loneliness in later life. A favorable social environment with high social capital and low levels of discrimination and ageism protects against loneliness in the ageing population across cultures. Practical implications for loneliness interventions for…
Longitudinal Associations between Peer and Family Relationships, Emotional Symptoms, and Regional Brain Volume across Adolescence
The period of adolescence brings with it a dynamic interaction between social context and behaviour, structural brain development, and anxiety and depressive symptoms. The rate of volumetric change in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and amygdala have been implicated in socioemotional development in adolescence; typically, there is thinning of grey matter volume (GMV) in the vmPFC and growth in the amygdala during this time. The directi…
Exploring the nature and variation of the stigma associated with loneliness
The current study uses data from The British Broadcasting Corporation Loneliness Experiment to explore the social stigma of loneliness and how it varies by gender, age and cultural individualism. We examined stigmatizing judgements of people who are lonely (impressions of those who feel lonely and attributions for loneliness), perceived stigma in the community and self-stigma (shame for being lonely and inclination to conceal loneliness), while c…
Changing the narrative
Loneliness is most often understood as resulting from individual deficits that shape poor social engagement and unsatisfying interactions. As a consequence, interventions to address loneliness most often focus on fixing the lonely individual, for example, by modifying their social appraisals and skills, or encouraging them to get out more. In this paper, we characterize and contribute to changing this dominant narrative by arguing that it is both…
The friendships and play partners of lonely children
The research examines the play partners and friendship patterns of a sample of children (N= 409) from four separate clusters (lonely, rejected, lonely and rejected, and nonlonely/nonrejected controls). Controls were more likely than rejected, lonely and lonely/rejected children to have a best friend. Control and rejected children differ from lonely and lonely/rejected children by reporting significantly more support from a close friend. Observati…
Loneliness among older ethnic minority people
Limited research exists on the experiences of loneliness among older ethnic minority people. Yet, the ageing population is increasingly diverse and health inequalities are growing. It is therefore important to explore how older ethnic minority people experience loneliness to ensure policies meet their needs. This article examines a sample (N = 17) of semi-structured qualitative interviews with older South and East Asian people in Greater Manchest…
Loneliness From the Adolescent Perspective
There is limited qualitative research on the experience of loneliness in adolescence, meaning key facets of the loneliness experience that are important in adolescence may have been overlooked. The current study addresses that gap in the literature and explores how loneliness is experienced in the context of adolescence from the perspective of adolescents. About 67 online counseling conversations between Childline counselors and adolescents (ages…
Dual-Factor Mental Health from Childhood to Early Adolescence and Associated Factors
The dual-factor model of mental health indicates the importance of simultaneously assessing symptoms and subjective wellbeing, but there is limited understanding of how dual-factor mental health changes during the transition from childhood to early adolescence and factors associated with change. The current study investigated dual-factor mental health over a 2-year period from when children were 8–9 years old to 10–11 years old ( N = 2402; 48% fe…
Lonely, but Not Alone
This paper explores loneliness as it is understood and experienced by adolescents, with a special focus on the importance of their migration status. We recruited students from five schools following a maximum variation sampling scheme, and we conducted 15 semi-structured, individual interviews with eighth-grade adolescents (aged 14-15 years) that were immigrants, descendants, and with a Danish majority background. A thematic analysis was applied …
Adolescent loneliness across the world and its relation to school climate, national culture and academic performance
BackgroundLoneliness during adolescence has adverse consequences for mental health, education and employment outcomes. Yet, we know little about common correlates of loneliness among adolescents, making intervention work difficult.AimsIn this study, we (1) explore individual-, school- and country-level correlates of loneliness to help identify potential intervention targets, and (2) examine the influence of loneliness on academic performance.Samp…
Influence of social anxiety and emotional self-efficacy on pre-transition concerns, social threat sensitivity, and social adaptation to secondary school
BackgroundMuch of the literature on school transfers has centred on academic adjustment and/or achievement, but school transfers also involve social adaption. Children who are socially anxious or lack emotional self-efficacy are likely to have difficulties with social aspects of the transition.Aim(s)We examined the influence of social anxiety, depressive symptoms, and emotional self-efficacy on (1) pre-transition concerns about the move to second…
Trajectories of Loneliness During Adolescence Predict Subsequent Symptoms of Depression and Positive Wellbeing
There is a need to identify the outcomes of changes in loneliness during adolescence, and to consider this within a multidimensional framework of loneliness. This study considered the effects of different trajectories of change in Isolation Loneliness and in Friendship Loneliness upon both positive wellbeing and symptoms of depression. To achieve this, 1782 (43% female; 12.92 years old at the start of the study, SD = 1.60) young people took part …
Ability emotional intelligence and children’s behaviour in the playground
We explored whether emotion understanding promotes positive social functioning in childhood using the ability emotional intelligence (AEI) framework, which defines emotion understanding more broadly than is common in developmental science. The prospective study included children ages 9–11 years who completed a measure of AEI at the start of the school year, and whose playground interactions were observed for one full year. Findings showed that, a…
The impact of event vividness, event severity, and prior paranormal belief on attributions towards a depicted remarkable coincidence experience
Two studies examine the impact event vividness, event severity, and prior paranormal belief has on causal attributions for a depicted remarkable coincidence experience. In Study 1, respondents (n = 179) read a hypothetical vignette in which a fictional character accurately predicts a plane crash 1 day before it occurs. The crash was described in either vivid or pallid terms with the final outcome being either severe (fatal) or non-severe (non-fat…
Developmental associations between victimization and body mass index from 3 to 10 years in a population sample
In the current prospective study, we investigated (1) whether high and low BMI in early childhood puts a child at risk of victimization by their peers, and (2) whether being victimized increases BMI over the short- and long-term, independent of the effect of BMI on victimization. We also examined whether gender moderated these prospective associations. Participants were 1,344 children who were assessed yearly from ages 3 to 10 years as part of th…
The friendships and play partners of lonely children
The research examines the play partners and friendship patterns of a sample of children (N= 409) from four separate clusters (lonely, rejected, lonely and rejected, and nonlonely/nonrejected controls). Controls were more likely than rejected, lonely and lonely/rejected children to have a best friend. Control and rejected children differ from lonely and lonely/rejected children by reporting significantly more support from a close friend. Observati…
Childhood loneliness as a predictor of adolescent depressive symptoms
Empathy and Bullying
Implicit alcohol‐aggression scripts and alcohol‐related aggression on a laboratory task in 11‐ to 14‐year‐old adolescents
Social scripts are commonly shared representations of behavior in social contexts, which are seen to be partly transmitted through social and cultural media. Research suggests that people hold scripts associated with alcohol‐related aggression, but, unlike general aggression scripts, there is little evidence of social transmission. To demonstrate social transmission of alcohol‐related aggression scripts, learning mechanisms based on personal expe…
The influence of emotional intelligence on academic progress and achievement in UK university students
Previous research has found relationships between higher levels of emotional intelligence (EI) and academic success in both adolescents and adults. This study examines the relationship between overall EI and specific EI competencies in 135 undergraduate psychology students in the UK. EI was measured at the start of a psychology degree course using the Emotional Competence Inventory-University Edition (ECI-U II). Performance was assessed using ret…
Trajectories of loneliness during childhood and adolescence
The present study employed latent growth mixture modeling to discern distinct trajectories of loneliness using data collected at 2‐year intervals from age 7–17 years ( N = 586) and examine whether measures taken at age 5 years were good predictors of group membership. Four loneliness trajectory classes were identified: (1) low stable (37% of the sample), (2) moderate decliners (23%), (3) moderate increasers (18%), and (4) relatively high stable (…
The influence of emotional intelligence on academic progress and achievement in UK university students
This article refers to:The influence of emotional intelligence on academic progress and achievement in UK university students
Loneliness Across the Life Span
Most people have experienced loneliness and have been able to overcome it to reconnect with other people. In the current review, we provide a life-span perspective on one component of the evolutionary theory of loneliness—a component we refer to as the reaffiliation motive (RAM). The RAM represents the motivation to reconnect with others that is triggered by perceived social isolation. Loneliness is often a transient experience because the RAM le…
Developmental associations between victimization and body mass index from 3 to 10 years in a population sample
In the current prospective study, we investigated (1) whether high and low BMI in early childhood puts a child at risk of victimization by their peers, and (2) whether being victimized increases BMI over the short- and long-term, independent of the effect of BMI on victimization. We also examined whether gender moderated these prospective associations. Participants were 1,344 children who were assessed yearly from ages 3 to 10 years as part of th…
The impact of event vividness, event severity, and prior paranormal belief on attributions towards a depicted remarkable coincidence experience
Two studies examine the impact event vividness, event severity, and prior paranormal belief has on causal attributions for a depicted remarkable coincidence experience. In Study 1, respondents (n = 179) read a hypothetical vignette in which a fictional character accurately predicts a plane crash 1 day before it occurs. The crash was described in either vivid or pallid terms with the final outcome being either severe (fatal) or non-severe (non-fat…
Ability emotional intelligence and children’s behaviour in the playground
We explored whether emotion understanding promotes positive social functioning in childhood using the ability emotional intelligence (AEI) framework, which defines emotion understanding more broadly than is common in developmental science. The prospective study included children ages 9–11 years who completed a measure of AEI at the start of the school year, and whose playground interactions were observed for one full year. Findings showed that, a…
Reciprocal Prospective Relationships Between Loneliness and Weight Status in Late Childhood and Early Adolescence
Adolescents who do not conform to weight ideals are vulnerable to disapproval and victimization from peers in school. But, missing from the literature is a prospective examination of weight status and feelings of loneliness that might come from those experiences. Using data from the Québec Longitudinal Study of Child Development, we filled that gap by examining the prospective associations between loneliness and weight status when the sample was …
The Application of Latent Class Analysis for Investigating Population Child Mental Health
Gender Differences in Loneliness across the Lifespan
Different theoretical contentions on gender differences in loneliness exist, often including the emergence of gender differences in particular developmental periods. To explain those ideas, the current meta–analysis synthesizes the available evidence on gender differences in loneliness across the lifespan. Three–level meta–analyses were conducted with 751 effect sizes, covering 399,798 individuals (45.56% males). Results showed a close–to–zero ov…
An educational intervention to prevent overweight in pre-school years
ISRCTN22620137 Registered 21st December 2016
Depression, anxiety, and loneliness among adolescents and young adults with IBD in the UK
In this sample of 14-25-year-old patients with IBD, specifics about the disease (severity and pain) predicted poorer mental health, suggesting discussion of mental health should be part of the clinical dialogue between patient and consultant. In addition, embarrassment about their condition increased depression, anxiety, and loneliness, mediating the relationship between disease severity and well-being. Thus, it is important to consider how perce…
Influence of social anxiety and emotional self-efficacy on pre-transition concerns, social threat sensitivity, and social adaptation to secondary school
BackgroundMuch of the literature on school transfers has centred on academic adjustment and/or achievement, but school transfers also involve social adaption. Children who are socially anxious or lack emotional self-efficacy are likely to have difficulties with social aspects of the transition.Aim(s)We examined the influence of social anxiety, depressive symptoms, and emotional self-efficacy on (1) pre-transition concerns about the move to second…
Associations of loneliness and social isolation with physical and mental health among adolescents and young adults
AIMS: The present study investigates whether loneliness and social isolation are associated with poor physical and mental health among adolescents and young adults, and whether age and gender play a role in the associations of loneliness and social isolation with mental and physical health. METHODS: = 22.6 years). RESULTS: Logistic regression analyses showed that loneliness and social isolation were independently associated with poor physical and…
Loneliness around the world
The BBC Loneliness Experiment provided a unique opportunity to examine differences in the experience of lonelines across cultures, age, and gender, and the interaction between these factors. Using those data, we analysed the frequency of loneliness reported by 46,054 participants aged 16-99 years, living across 237 countries, islands, and territories, representing the full range of individualism-collectivism cultures, as defined by Hofstede (1997…
The Impact of Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS) on Loneliness in Primary School Children
Research suggests that loneliness during childhood is associated with poor well-being and mental ill-health. There is a growing social and educational imperative to explore how school-based interventions can support young children’s social development. The Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS) curriculum is a universal school intervention focused on social and emotional learning, and it has a significant evidence based supporting its …
Looking Back to Move Forward
In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, the swift response of mental health research funders and institutions, service providers, and academics enabled progress toward understanding the mental health consequences. Nevertheless, there remains an urgent need to understand the true extent of the short- and long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health, necessitating ongoing research. Although the speed with which mental health researcher…
Exploring the Frequency, Intensity, and Duration of Loneliness
Almost all measures of loneliness have been developed without discussing how to best conceptualize and assess the severity of loneliness. In the current study, we adapted the four-item UCLA, so that it continued to measure frequency of loneliness, but also assessed intensity and duration, providing a measure of other aspects of loneliness severity. Using data from participants resident in the UK who completed the BBC Loneliness Experiment (N = 36…
Prevalence and Social Inequality in Youth Loneliness in the UK
Using data from the English arm of the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study, we examined the prevalence of loneliness for school-aged adolescents and how it is linked to social inequalities. The HBSC study collects data from 11-, 13-, and 15-year-olds, and is repeated every four years, allowing the exploration of prevalence rates of loneliness pre COVID-19 pandemic for comparison. We also explored whether loneliness was associate…
Tell Me about Loneliness
friendships with peers were understood to be central to adolescent loneliness experiences. In line with that, loneliness was seen to be experienced at school. Age-related differences in friendship expectations were identified, highlighting how developmental needs relate to the loneliness experience
A randomised controlled trial of the Nextdoor Kind Challenge
Clinical Trials Registry. NCT04398472 . Registered 21st May 2020
Psychology (51 works) · Loneliness (42 works) · Social Psychology (38 works) · Developmental psychology (37 works) · Health disparities and outcomes (33 works) · Psychiatry (29 works) · Medicine (26 works) · Clinical Psychology (24 works) · Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development (16 works) · Social Psychology (16 works)