RESEARCH ARTICLE
The Use of Telephone Help-lines by Lonely Children and Adolescents
Marilyn Campbell*
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2015Volume: 8
First Page: 133
Last Page: 137
Publisher ID: TOPSYJ-8-133
DOI: 10.2174/1874350101508010133
Article History:
Received Date: 25/10/2014Revision Received Date: 30/01/2015
Acceptance Date: 02/02/2015
Electronic publication date: 15/5/2015
Collection year: 2015
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode). This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Loneliness is a subjective distressing feeling of being disconnected from a desired group or intimate relationship. Most children and adolescents experience loneliness at some time but for 10-20% of young people it can be severe and chronic. While there are many avenues for help for distressed young people, such as friends and family as well as the professional help of counselors and psychologists, lonely young people often do not seek help. Telephone help-lines are one way to assist young people in difficulty which is cost effective, accessible and anonymous. Many countries provide this free or low cost help with specific services for youth either by telephone or online. From the call records of help-lines however, it would seem that lonely young people do not often utilize these services. The reasons for this apparent reluctance are discussed.