Den uppkopplade generationen : -En kvantitativ studie på ensamhet bland 18-35 åringar

Sammanfattning: Levels of loneliness are high in young adults, meanwhile they are the most connected generations ever through social media. Potential links between loneliness and the increased use of social media is of sociological interest to study. Potential gender differences are also of interest as previous research has mixed views on whether there are differences or not. The purpose of this study is to explore whether age is a factor in loneliness for young adults (18-35 year olds), and whether there are gender differences. Furthermore, the connection between perceived negative experience of social media usage and loneliness levels is studied. Potential gender differences in this connection are also studied as a variable. The theoretical frames used are Giddens (1996) ontological security and Connell and Pearse (2015) gender socialization framework. The approach used is a quantitative method. The data was collected through a digital survey spread through personal networks, workplaces, and the Facebook group “Dom kallar oss studenter”. The data was then analyzed through multivariate regressions. The results show that the majority of observations did not show a prominent level of loneliness, and that gender does not have an impact. However, these results were not significant. There seems to be a link between perceived negative impact of social media usage and levels of loneliness. Gender does however not seem to have an impact on this connection.