Cross-Sectional Studies on Loneliness and Smoking Behaviours

Both loneliness and tobacco smoking can significantly impact development during the vulnerable period of adolescence and young adulthood and set the stage for lifelong health trajectories. Previous cross-sectional studies have explored their co-occurrence and show mixed findings. Regarding adolescents, a systematic review by Dyal and Valente (2015) reported a positive association between being a current smoker and higher levels of loneliness in 6 out of 11 adolescent samples. This positive association was also reported in more recent cross-sectional studies among adolescents (McClure-Thomas et al., 2022; Shadmehr et al., 2019). Regarding young adults, several studies provided some support for a positive association between loneliness and smoking among university students or reported lonely students to report more tobacco use (Habibi et al., 2018; Peltzer & Pengpid, 2017; Zahedi et al., 2022, 2024; Zhang et al., 2020), while other studies did show that smoking (vs. non-smoking) university students did not differ on loneliness (Anjum & Smitha, 2020; Diehl et al., 2018). Consequently, previous studies on cross-sectional associations between loneliness and smoking among adolescents and young adults presented conflicting insights.