Study title

Helsingin Sanomat Loneliness Survey 2014

Dataset ID Number

FSD3360

Persistent identifier

urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3360

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• Saari, Juho (Tampere University. Faculty of Social Sciences)
• Helsingin Sanomat
• Kauhanen, Jussi (University of Eastern Finland)
• Karhunen, Leila (University of Eastern Finland)
• Lagus, Krista (Aalto University)
• Kainulainen, Sakari (Diaconia University of Applied Sciences)
• Pantzar, Mika (University of Helsinki. Centre for Consumer Society Research)
• Erola, Jani (University of Turku)
• Junttila, Niina (University of Turku)
• Müller, Kiti (Finnish Institute of Occupational Health)
• Huhta, Jaana (Finnish Institute of Occupational Health)

Abstract

This survey charted Finnish experiences of loneliness. The survey was conducted by the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat in 2014 (N: 27,851). Themes of the survey included, among others, the circumstances and consequences of loneliness, satisfaction with life and well-being. The survey included an open-ended question q9 "What does loneliness feel like?", which can be utilised in qualitative analysis. Open-ended responses are only available in Finnish.

First, the circumstances and consequences of loneliness in the respondents' lives were examined. The number of the respondents' close friends, i.e. friends with whom they could share the good and bad in life in confidence, was surveyed. The respondents were asked in which situations they had experienced loneliness in the past two years (e.g. with their spouse, children or friends, during holidays, at work) as well as in which stages of life they had experienced loneliness (e.g. as a child or an adult). They were also asked whether they had experienced loneliness during a specific season of the year in the past two years. The consequences of loneliness were charted with questions relating to whether the respondents had experienced, for example, frequent illnesses, unemployment, gambling, comfort eating or depression because of loneliness.

Next, factors that had significantly helped the respondents alleviate loneliness in the past two years were surveyed (e.g. alcohol or drug use, the Internet, eating, immersing themselves in work, taking care of pets or other animals, exercise, time spent with family or friends). Feelings of loneliness, depression, failure, happiness and being loved or in love in the past 12 months were charted. Additionally, the respondents were asked how well various statements described them. The statements included, for instance, that the respondents felt unhappy because they were doing things alone, felt that no one really understood them, felt that it was hard for them to make friends, thought that they lived a goal-oriented and meaningful life, thought that they were a good person and lived a good life, and thought that others respected them. The respondents' satisfaction with specific domains of life, such as standard of living, personal health and personal safety, was also examined. Finally, the respondents' well-being was surveyed with questions on, for example, smoking, alcohol use, exercise habits and weight loss.

Background variables included, among others, the respondent's gender, marital status, age, weight, height, sufficiency of income, highest level of education, subjective social class, NUTS3 region of residence and municipality of residence for municipalities with over 34,000 inhabitants.

Keywords

friends; interpersonal relations; loneliness; mental health; quality of life; social disadvantage; social exclusion; social support; well-being (health)

Topic Classification

• Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Equality, inequality and social exclusion (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Social behaviour and attitudes (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Series

Individual datasets

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

The dataset is (B) available for research, teaching and study.

Data Collector

• Helsingin Sanomat

Time Period Covered

2014

Collection Dates

2014-03 – 2014-06

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Universe

All persons who have experienced loneliness

Time Method

Cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Non-probability: Availability

The questionnaire was available on the Helsingin Sanomat website. The introduction and link to the questionnaire were displayed as follows: "Have you experienced loneliness? Respond to this survey on hs.fi/yksin". 27,946 responses to the survey were received, 95 of which were duplicates. As such, the final data consist of 27,851 respondents.

Collection Mode

Self-administered questionnaire: Web-based (CAWI)

Research Instrument

Structured questionnaire

Data File Language

Downloaded data package may contain different language versions of the same files.

The data files of this dataset are available in the following languages: Finnish.

FSD translates quantitative data into English on request, free of charge. More information on ordering data translation.

Data Version

1.0

Completeness of Data and Restrictions

The distributions in variable q1 denoting the number of the respondent's close friends may be influenced by a technical feature that many of the respondents mentioned in their open-ended responses. In the online questionnaire, it was possible to choose 0 as the number of close friends, but only by separately selecting the number from the list. If the respondents left the default number 0 as their response to the question, it was not saved automatically as a response when submitting the completed questionnaire. This led some of the respondents to suppose that they could not respond with the number 0 and had to select some other number as their response.

To prevent identification of respondents, detailed information on the respondent's area of residence, such as variable q17 denoting municipality of residence and postal code of the municipality, was removed from the data. Variable bv3 denoting municipalities with over 34,000 inhabitants as well as municipalities with a higher than average distribution of respondents was created at FSD based on variable q17. Two new variables, q14_1 (women) and q14_2 (men), were created at FSD based on variable q14 denoting the respondent's height, and the highest and lowest values were categorised into one category each. The original variable denoting height was removed. Additionally, variables q16 denoting age and q18 denoting sufficiency of income were top-coded. The open-ended variable q9 was reviewed at FSD and identifiers, such as email addresses, specific job titles and names of workplaces, were removed if necessary. Changes made at FSD were marked with [square brackets].

The duplicate responses (N: 95) were removed from the data at FSD.

Weighting

There are no weight variables in the data.

Citation Requirement

The data and its creators shall be cited in all publications and presentations for which the data have been used. The bibliographic citation may be in the form suggested by the archive or in the form required by the publication.

Bibliographical Citation

Saari, Juho (Tampere University) & Helsingin Sanomat & Kauhanen, Jussi (University of Eastern Finland) & Karhunen, Leila (University of Eastern Finland) & Lagus, Krista (Aalto University) & Kainulainen, Sakari (Diaconia University of Applied Sciences) & Pantzar, Mika (University of Helsinki) & Erola, Jani (University of Turku) & Junttila, Niina (University of Turku) & Müller, Kiti (Finnish Institute of Occupational Health) & Huhta, Jaana (Finnish Institute of Occupational Health): Helsingin Sanomat Loneliness Survey 2014 [dataset]. Version 1.0 (2020-09-01). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3360

Deposit Requirement

Notify FSD of all publications where you have used the data by sending the citation information to user-services.fsd@tuni.fi.

Disclaimer

The original data creators and the archive bear no responsibility for any results or interpretations arising from the reuse of the data.

Related Publications

Yksinäisten Suomi (2016). Toim. Saari, Juho. Helsinki: Gaudeamus.

Kaasalainen, Wilma (2021) Emotionaalisen ja sosiaalisen yksinäisyyden vaikutus nuorten omaan tulevaisuuteen suhtautumiseen. Yhteiskuntatutkimuksen kandidaatintutkielma, Tampereen yliopisto.

Lamberg, Hanne (2022) Yksinäisyys yhteiskunnallisen eriarvoisuuden muotona : Sosioekonomisen aseman vaikutus yksinäisyyden kokemukseen ja seurauksiin. Kandidaatintutkielma. Yhteiskuntatieteiden tiedekuntam Tampereen yliopisto.