Lonely and/or alone? A person-centred study of young adults’ childhood trauma, attachment orientations, and patterns of social media use

Previous evidence links psychosocial difficulties to social media (SM) use patterns in young adulthood. This study investigated differences between young adults’ profiles based on loneliness and social isolation across different SM use patterns, including problematic SM use (PSMU), active and passive SM use, as well as online social anxiety, adult attachment orientations (anxiety and avoidance), and childhood trauma, through a person-centred approach. A total of 1487 young adults completed self-report measures. Latent profile analysis identified five profiles: Socially Connected (low social isolation, low loneliness), Lonely Alone (high social isolation, high loneliness), Mildly Solitary (moderate social isolation, moderate loneliness), Unlonely Alone (high social isolation, low loneliness), and Lonely Together (low social isolation, high loneliness). Profiles with moderate or high loneliness exhibited the highest levels of attachment anxiety, childhood trauma, and PSMU. Lonely Alone displayed higher levels of these variables than Lonely Together, greater attachment avoidance than Socially Connected, and the highest online social anxiety. These findings suggest that PSMU might act as a compensatory mechanism for both loneliness and social isolation, linked to childhood trauma and insecure adult attachment. Promoting secure attachment through responsive parenting could mitigate the effects of childhood trauma, reduce the risk of loneliness, social isolation, and PSMU in young adulthood.