Social isolation and undesired loneliness have been situations traditionally associated with older adults. However, young people are also among the age groups that most suffer these situations.  It was not until the recent covid-19 pandemic that, for obvious reasons, the problem of social isolation among young people became a social concern and transcended into the public sphere. In reality, the phenomenon was already a worrying one before the pandemic and, of course, it has not disappeared with it either. 

The evolution of Western societies in recent decades has been marked by the individualisation of relationships and the weakening of community ties. The digitalisation of society, as well as of certain activities that no longer take place in public and freely accessible spaces (e.g., leisure), has led to the privatisation and commodification of many spheres of social life, which has resulted in profound changes in the sociability of young people. Within this context, we understand sociability as the ability and possibility that people have to relate to each other. It is marked by individual characteristics of a socio-economic and socio-demographic nature, but also by the environment that surrounds people. 

Sociability is key in the development of young people's life trajectory, both in terms of their relationships with friends and the material and emotional support that they receive from their network of relationships. This network of personal relationships can be defined as social capital and is made up of both those who are affectively  close (family and friends) and others who are affectively more distant (co-workers or co-students). A whole set of social characteristics and structural factors exist that can reduce the possibility among the younger population of having a varied and extensive social capital. First of all, a working-class social background or an immigrant background will produce smaller, more homogeneous networks among young people. Similarly, job instability and recurrent unemployment situations cause a significant loss of contacts. With regard to gender, the social capital of young people also reproduces the patterns observed for the population as a whole: women have less extensive networks, with less social diversity but with stronger ties, which translates into higher levels of intimacy and support in relationships. 

Southern European countries, such as Spain and Portugal, have often been described as familistic, in the sense that the family network is a more important source of resources than in other Western countries. In familistic countries, the family network would compensate for the weak welfare provision by the state and provide resources that are not institutionalised by it. Furthermore, relationships between young people and their parents tend to be more intense and frequent, often because their living together in the family home continues much longer than in other countries due to the lack of affordable alternatives that makes leaving the parental home impossible. Young adults take refuge in the family and personal contacts as sources of support in the absence of formal and institutionalised sources of resource provision. In these countries, a poor personal relationship with parents or a socially disadvantaged family background (where the family is unable to provide the resources that the state does not) can deepen initial social inequalities. Thus, these unfavourable circumstances can intensify situations of social isolation, which in turn has a negative influence on young people’s material and emotional well-being.  

The aim of this article  is, firstly, to provide a comparative analysis of patterns of sociability in general and at the family level, in order to situate the reality of Spain and Portugal within the European context. Secondly, it explores the inequalities that exist in sociability patterns among Spanish and Portuguese young adults, according to their social profile and economic and employment situation. For this purpose, data on frequency of interaction, size of networks and strength of the bond with their parents (measured by frequency of interaction and affective proximity) of young Europeans aged 18 to 34 years are analysed. The data come from  the European Social Survey in its tenth wave, and were obtained between September 2020 and May 2022 depending on the country – specifically, between January and May 2022 in Spain (n=486) and between August 2021 and March 2022 in Portugal (n=297). The data for the EU as a whole (n=10036) include all EU27 countries except for Denmark, Luxembourg, Malta, and Romania. 

When comparing the maximum values of interaction (interacting at least several times a week with friends, family, or co-workers), important differences are observed by country across the group of young people. In the European Union, on average, 52.4% meet in their free time with friends, family, or co-workers every day or several times a week. Spain slightly exceeds this percentage, while Portugal is one of the countries where the frequency of interaction is much higher (over 65%), exceeded only by the Netherlands, Croatia, and Bulgaria.

Despite the higher frequency of interaction by young people in Portugal, the size of their personal networks is smaller compared to Spain and the European Union as a whole. When it comes to talking about intimate and personal issues, the most frequent size of young people's networks in Portugal stands at 3 people (34.4%). In the case of Spain, it is 4-6 people (30.7%), a percentage very similar to the European average. Thus, despite the fact that, in Portugal, young people interact more frequently (with friends, family, or co-workers), it is observed that in Spain this group has a higher number of close relationships or strong ties, which are the ones that tend to provide the most support, especially of an emotional nature. 

Despite the fact that both Portugal and Spain are considered familistic countries, it is in Spain where the intensity of intergenerational relations is strongest. When young people are asked how often they talk to their parents in person, it is observed that the rate is higher in Spain than in Portugal. Both countries exceed the frequency of the European Union as a whole, although Portugal's values are close to the average. It can be seen, therefore, that in Spain, the weight of the family is very relevant. While 49.2% of young people in the European Union as a whole and 51.9% in Portugal interact with their parents at least once a day, in Spain 70.6% of their peers do so. This may be largely due to the late age at which young people in Spain leave home. While, across the EU as a whole, young people on average leave home at 26.4 years of age, in Portugal they do so at 29.7 years and in Spain at 30.3 years (according to Eurostat data, 2022). In any case, the trend towards a higher frequency of interaction between Spanish parents and their young adult children is also maintained if we focus on young people who no longer live in the parental home.

It is in Spain where there is the greatest affective closeness to parents. In comparative terms, the percentage of young people in Spain who say they feel extremely close to their parents in affective terms is the highest in the European Union (56.6%), while Portugal lies in third place (49.5%), behind Greece. The next positions are held by Cyprus and Italy. These high percentages of affective closeness occur in southern European countries, which shows the social and cultural anchoring of familistic welfare states in the strength of the bonds between family and young adults in these countries.

In Spain and Portugal, 9.1% and 10.9%, respectively, of the young adult population suffers from a certain degree of social isolation, as individuals report meeting in their free time with friends, family, or co-workers once a month or less. This percentage is slightly higher for the EU as a whole, standing at 12.4% of the young adult population. Within this group, however, we also find inequalities. Looking at the young adult population of Spain and Portugal together, it can be seen that men suffer more isolation than women, in contrast with the European Union as a whole. Place ofbirth also conditions the level of social isolation. In Spain and Portugal, the percentage of young people born outside their country of residence who suffer isolation is higher than that of people born in their country of residence. The percentage relating to this category is the only one that shows higher values in Spain and Portugal than average values in the European Union. In contrast, the percentage of those born in the country and suffering isolation is lower than the European Union average. On the other hand, the data show that the lower the parents’ occupational category and the greater the household’s economic vulnerability, the higher the percentage of young people suffering isolation. In the European Union as a whole, the impact is similar to that in Spain and Portugal, but always with higher values. 

Unemployment is the occupational situation in which young people show the greatest social isolation, with similar percentages for both countries and for the European Union as a whole. Among unemployed young people, those who have been in long-term unemployment suffer isolation the most. In contrast, those who have never been unemployed are the ones who suffer it least, confirming the association between unemployment and reduced sociability. Once more, the percentage of young people suffering isolation in these situations is higher in the European Union as a whole than in Spain and Portugal.

This article has used data from the European Social Survey obtained in its tenth wave, between September 2020 and May 2022, for comparative analysis of the sociability of young people between 18 and 34 years of age in Spain and Portugal, their level of social isolation, and the inequality factors that influence the different values observed. The countries analysed are those of the EU27, with the exception of Denmark, Luxembourg, Malta, and Romania. The data obtained show similar sociability values between Spain and Portugal, although Portugal is ahead of Spain in relation to frequency of interaction while, in Spain, the size of personal networks is larger than that of those of Portugal. In relation to frequency of contact with parents, this is higher than the average for the European Union as a whole in both Spain and Portugal, both among young people who already left home and for the whole group, although the values for Spain are higher than the values for Portugal. The emotional closeness of young people to their parents is also greater in Mediterranean countries, with Spain in the lead. These data confirm the important role played by the family network in the sociability of young people in Spain and Portugal.

If factors related to the social isolation of young people are analysed, it is shown that it occurs to a greater extent among young people of foreign origin (who usually have weaker personal networks), among young people with greater economic vulnerability, and among young people who are unemployed. These factors of inequality whose impact means greater isolation of young people are the same in Spain and Portugal as in the rest of the countries of the European Union. However, their negative effect is always more cushioned in Spain and Portugal (except in the case of young people of foreign origin). Subject to more in-depth analysis, it could be inferred that the lower values of isolation in the two Iberian countries are the result of greater sociability and the weight of the family in personal relationships in both. In any case, the fact that these factors with a negative impact on sociability produce comparatively lower percentages of social isolation should not lead us to overlook the fact that the familistic model  of resources provision that exists in Spain and Portugal causes young people to become more dependent on family support. This implies that they cannot rely on other, alternative sources of material and emotional support, and that they are ultimately in a situation of greater vulnerability, compared to the young people in other European countries where there are alternative or complementary sources of a more formalised nature. 

Greater dependence on the family environment should be compensated with the development of actions that allow young adults  – particularly those at greater risk of social isolation – to improve their level of sociability and expand their personal networks. These actions could include the promotion of spaces aimed at this group, so that young adults can interact with each other (e.g., by making public spaces available to them), the promotion of associations and participation by young adults, or the development of collective care, guidance, mentoring and dynamization services. It would also be advisable for young adults, as well as those who work with this group (including teachers, facilitators, educational and careers guidance staff), to become aware of the importance of personal networks beyond the family as a source of resources, both from the point of view of emotional support and in any other sense (material support, access to the jobs market, etc.).

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