Schools can play an important role in equipping students with skills to overcome increasing rates of loneliness and isolation, described as an epidemic, according to an article in K-12 Dive.
California last year launched a Men’s Service Challenge to find 10,000 men to serve as mentors, coaches and tutors for young men and boys. This is in response to evidence that loneliness and isolation have a greater impact on boys and men. It follows an executive order from Gov. Gavin Newsom that cited an increase among boys in suicide rates and disconnection, as well as decreased college attendance.
Men and women reported similar rates of loneliness, emotional support and close friendships, although men were more likely to report not feeling like they belong to a particular group or community, according to findings from the American Institute for Boys and Men.
“Loneliness in general is a problem,” says Milena Batanova, director of research and evaluation at Making Caring Common, a Harvard Graduate School of Education initiative.
It’s important for schools and districts to sustain strong social-emotional learning (SEL) programs. Evidence shows that they improve social skills and sense of belonging while reducing loneliness and social isolation, Batanova says.
“I don’t know if there are any systematic gender differences in studies of SEL,” Batanova says. “We of course know that boys internalize how they feel, as opposed to girls. Boys might need more targeted screening, asking them more specific, relevant questions. They might withdraw and seem irritable. Girls are more open to saying, ‘I’m lonely.’
“Adults need to be educated to recognize and identify issues and followed by knowing how to communicate about them differently with boys vs. girls,” Batanova says.
Mentoring and structured interest groups around sports or other hobbies through schools or third-parties can also provide mentoring and help foster a sense of connection, Batanova says.
“Adolescents can sniff out when programs are too contrived or forced,” she says. “Programs need to meet them where they’re at, and match with their interests and extracurricular needs.”
When SEL programs are under-resourced, loneliness becomes a secondary or even tertiary focus — understandable given those circumstances, Batanova says. “We want to be preventative. Targeted inventions and programs are important.”
Schools need funding for mental health support, she contends. They need to be able to provide those services. “I very much worry that the [funding] gaps are widening between schools that are well-resourced vs. those that are not.”
Educators need to know the different dimensions of loneliness, Batanova says. Adults might be drawn to students who don’t have enough friends or don’t know how to make friends, but others can have a large number of friends and still feel they lack meaningful connections.
“That’s another example of being more targeted,” she says. “It’s important to get to the bottom of what’s going on so these kids can be properly intervened with, which is why those community supports are so important.”
Under-resourced schools and districts should consider partnering with university researchers, Batanova says.
“(Researchers) are always in need of testing out programs, trying different modules and components of interventions for improvement,” she says. “It could be a win-win with very low cost. That requires someone to coordinate and manage those relationships and be creative in how they’re done.”
K-12 Dive
