Almost a quarter of British parents feel isolated and lonely, a children’s charity has claimed.
Action for Children recently surveyed over 2,000 parents from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. They found that 24 per cent felt ‘cut off’ after they became a parent. The number of parents who experienced these feelings varied between the countries. Welsh parents experienced loneliness the most – 31 per cent – while Scottish parents felt it the least with only 19 per cent reporting a sense of isolation.
The study revealed that the problem is particularly common among young parents. More than a third of respondents between the ages of 18 and 34 said they felt regularly ‘cut off’. By contrast, only eight per cent of parents over 55 reported similar feelings.
Respondents from bigger families were more likely to admit to feeling isolated. Thirty-two per cent of parents with three or more children reported loneliness. This number dropped to 26 per cent among parents of two children and 22 per cent of those with only one.
Jan Leightley is the managing director of operations for Action for Children. She said that it was “troubling to see that so many parents feel isolated”.
It is vital for parents to have a network of support, she declared, as it allows them to “share those funny moments or the tougher times, which all parents face”.
Earlier this month, German researchers claimed that parents can experience a significant drop in happiness after the birth of a child, more so than following a divorce or even the death of a partner.
