Abstract
Background/ObjectiveLoneliness and depression are highly comorbid, and both are associated with social processing deficits. However, there is a paucity of research aimed at differentiating emotional face‐processing deficits that are comorbid to loneliness and depression versus those attributable to loneliness or depression only.Methods502 participants were recruited and screened for loneliness (UCLA Loneliness Scale) and depression (Beck Depression Inventory). Of those, seventy‐seven took part in a fully crossed 2 (loneliness; low/high) * 2 (depression; low/high) factorial between‐subjects design study to assess individual and comorbid effects of loneliness and depression on a computerized morphed facial emotion processing task.ResultsComorbidity was confirmed by a significant positive correlation between loneliness and depression. On the emotion processing task, loneliness was associated with an increased accuracy for sad faces and decreased accuracy for fearful faces and depression with decreased accuracy in identifying happy faces. Comorbid loneliness and depression resulted in an increased misattribution of neutral faces as sad, an effect that was also seen in those who were either only lonely or only depressed.ConclusionThis if the first study to tease out comorbid versus independent effects of loneliness and depression on social information processing. To the extent that emotional biases may act as risk factors for detrimental outcomes, our findings highlight the importance of treating both loneliness and depression.
Highlights
Loneliness, defined as a discrepancy between the desired versus the perceived quality of social relationships (Peplau & Perlman, 1982), is highly comorbid with depression (Cacioppo et al, 2006; Liu et al, 2016; Mahon et al, 2006)
As well as being an independent risk factor for depression (Jaremka et al, 2013), longitudinal studies have reported that loneliness increases existing depressive symptomatology (Cacioppo, Hawkley, et al, 2006; Cacioppo, Hughes, et al, 2006)
Both loneliness and depression have independently been associated with impairments in the processing of social information, a skill that is critical for communication success, social functioning, and maintaining interpersonal relationships (Adolphs, 2003)
Summary
Loneliness, defined as a discrepancy between the desired versus the perceived quality of social relationships (Peplau & Perlman, 1982), is highly comorbid with depression (Cacioppo et al, 2006; Liu et al, 2016; Mahon et al, 2006). | 2 of 9 found social support acted as a protective risk factor against depression (Gariepy et al, 2016). Both loneliness and depression have independently been associated with impairments in the processing of social information, a skill that is critical for communication success, social functioning, and maintaining interpersonal relationships (Adolphs, 2003). In a study with adolescents (mean age 13), when depression and social anxiety were controlled for, lonely individuals were more accurate at identifying the negative emotions of sadness and fear (Vanhalst et al, 2017)
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