How does the relationship between Loneliness and Sexual Orientation vary across Wales?

Abstract

There are several factors identified which associated with Loneliness and isolation among sexual minorities. Loneliness can have significant impact on an individual to their physical and mental health problems. This research examined the relationship between loneliness and sexual orientation vary in magnitude between urban and rural areas in Wales. For this purpose, survey data “National Survey for Wales 2016-2017” was retrieved from the UK Data Service. Fro data analysis both descriptive and regressional analysis were used to interprest results. Survey used De Jong Gierveld Loneliness scale to provide valid and reliable measurement instrument. A total number of 9,505 valid participants’ data was analysed. Results revealed that majority of participants involved in survey were heterosexual or straight individual (i.e. and very low participants were recorded for sexual minorities. Results were more favour in low level of loneliness found among sexual minorities in both rural and urban areas in Wales; despite previous literature suggested otherwise. The main limitation of this study was the data collection method. The data was already available on the UK Data Service. For future work, new data collection methods need to be added such as online survey and qualitative interviews. This can help to retrieve most appropriate and relevant to domain.