To Prevent Loneliness, Start in the Classroom
Young people are among the loneliest of all Americans. Schools that teach kids how to deal with feelings of isolation could help put a dent in the epidemic.
Starting in September of 2020, schoolchildren across the United Kingdom will learn from their teachers how to fend off loneliness.
In January, British Prime Minister Theresa May appointed the first “minister of loneliness.” This week, her administration released an 84-page plan detailing the actions it will take to curb loneliness across the country, including measures that will be enacted in schools. Starting in primary school, students will have mandatory lessons in “relationships education,” and such lessons will also be incorporated into sex-ed classes in high school.
The Brigham Young University psychologist Julianne Holt-Lunstad, one of the foremost scholars on
