Researchers rated loneliness and social support by profession, and published the results in the Harvard Business Review. The results revealed 61 per cent of the lawyers in the study sample ranked above average on a loneliness scale created by the University of California at Los Angeles.
Tilting the loneliness scale
The loneliness scale measures feelings of loneliness by asking people to indicate how often they experience the feelings described in 20 different statements, including ‘I have nobody to talk to,’ ‘I feel as if nobody really understands me’ and ‘I feel shut out and excluded by others.’ Lonely workers reported less job satisfaction, fewer promotions and more frequent job changes. Other highly lonely groups are engineers (57 percent), research scientists (55 percent), workers in food preparation and serving (51 percent), and those in education and library services (45 percent). The least lonely professions are those involving high degrees of social interaction: social work, marketing, and sales.
Lawyers talk loneliness
Speaking to the Washington Post, Buffalo lawyer Daniel Lukasik, who started Lawyers with Depression website, said technology means research without going to libraries where lawyers once socialised. He said this translates into 'You’re working all the time…You get to the point where you’re too exhausted to socialise.' Coincidentally, today The Guardian launched a new section 'Working it out' - a new series inviting readers to submit in a short description of their 'predicament' for other readers to offer solutions. The first taker? A solicitor. For more information on the research, click here.
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