Experience of Loneliness among School Children: A comparative study in the selected South-Asian countries

Feeling of loneliness will happen when an individual's socio-emotional needs are not being adequately met. This study assessed the experiences of loneliness of 11-16 year old Scholl children in selected South-Asian countries. Data drawn from Global School-based Student Health Survey (GSHS) which is a school-based survey conducted among students aged 11–17 years by World Health Organization (WHO) during 2007-2009. This paper focused only on selected South-Asia countries’ sample students such as India (8075), Indonesia (3110), Maldives (3157), Myanmar (2789), Sri Lanka (2602) and Thailand (2762). This analysis found that a significant portion of school students in all the study South-Asian countries do in fact experience feeling of loneliness, however, this proportions are vary widely among the study groups. Similarly a small but significant proportion of students in the study countries felt sad or hopeless in the past one year. With respect to their attempt consider on suicide, Myanmar and Indonesia students are mentally so strong than Maldives and Sri Lankan students. It can be concluded that the loneliness is a significant problem that can predispose young children to immediate and long-term negative consequences. Therefore, it is important to recognise lonely individuals early on to prevent more serious social, emotional and health and well-being problems which loneliness may cause.