About the project

The YLS project is focused on creating a new way to measure loneliness in young people. While there are existing measures, they often don’t encompass the unique experiences of young people or were developed with little input from young people themselves. It is our goal to create a questionnaire that accurately reflects the experiences and feelings of young people in the UK. We hope the scale will be valuable not just for researchers but also for universities, government bodies, and other organizations working to understand and address youth loneliness. This project is led by Professor Jennifer Lau at Queen Mary University London, in collaboration with researchers at the University of Manchester and King's College London.

Want to find out more?

Read our project protocol:

Fuhrmann, D., Riddleston, L., Verity, L., Alam, I., Conway, J., Chavez, L., … Lau, J. (2023, August 7). Co-producing a new scale with young people aged 10 – 24 years: A protocol for the development and validation of the Youth Loneliness Scale  (YLS). https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/2g5ba

Use our study materials:

https://osf.io/4qvnh/

For questions:

Please contact Jennifer Lau for more information about the project.

Thank you!

We are grateful for the invaluable input from our Young Person Advisory Group members and our Project Students.

The following charities are consultants for the YLS Project: The McPin Foundation, The Campaign to End Loneliness, The Future Leader Programme.

The YLS Project is funded by UK Research and Innovation.