Loneliness Conditions Research Articles

A Longitudinal Study on Loneliness during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Japan.

The prolonged COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing socioeconomic and health risk factors and added additional dimensions to the loneliness problem. Considering the temporal extension of COVID-19, which exposes people to various loneliness conditions, we examined the development of loneliness and changing risk factors based on age and gender. We used longitudinal data from Hiroshima University’s nationwide survey in Japan, conducted before and during the pandemic, to categorize loneliness into three types: long-term (feeling of loneliness experienced both before and during the pandemic), post-pandemic (feeling of loneliness experienced throughout the whole pandemic period), and fresh (feeling of loneliness experienced only in the last year of the pandemic). Loneliness categorization is important because the prolonged existence of the COVID-19 pandemic has added additional dimensions to the loneliness problem, which existing studies rarely identify. As a result, the distinction between long-term and fresh loneliness remains unexplained. The weighted logit regression results revealed that many Japanese people have remained or became lonely during the pandemic and identified variations based on gender, age, and changes in socioeconomic and health characteristics. More precisely, almost 52% of the participants experienced long-term loneliness, while 8% of the participants experienced post-pandemic loneliness, and nearly 5% experienced fresh loneliness. Age and having children were associated with long-term loneliness; gender, age, leaving full-time employment, financial literacy, change in health status, and change in depression were associated with post-pandemic loneliness; and gender, having children, living in rural areas, change in household assets, financial literacy, changes in health status, and changes in depression were associated with fresh loneliness. These results indicated that long-term, post-pandemic, and fresh loneliness have distinct characteristics. The Japanese government should devise distinctive solutions for people suffering from varying loneliness before and during the pandemic rather than adopting a generalized approach.

ATA2021ATA2021 Annual Conference & Expo(Virtual*)Tuesdays and Thursdays in June 2021(ABSTRACTS)

ATA2021ATA2021 Annual Conference & Expo(Virtual*)Tuesdays and Thursdays in June 2021(ABSTRACTS)

PEMAKNAAN PUISI “KEBUN HUJAN” DAN “IBU HUJAN” DALAM KUMPULAN PUISI SELAMAT MENUNAIKAN IBADAH PUISI KARYA JOKO PINURBO DENGAN KAJIAN SEMIOTIKA CHARLES SANDERS PEIRCE

This study aims to describe the unit of a sign as follows. 1) Icons, indices and symbols in the poem Gardens. 2) Icons, indices and symbols in the poem Rainy Mother. 3) The meanings contained in the poems Gardens and Rain in a collection of poems Congratulations on Performing Poetry Worship by Joko Pinurbo. This research is a type of qualitative research. The data used is a sign in the form of words, phrases, sentences, lines, and stanzas in the poems Gardens and Rain. The data sources used in this study are the poems Gardens and Rain which are collected in a collection of poems, Congratulations on Poetry Worship by Joko Pinurbo. The research instrument in this study is the researchers themselves who are armed with a set of concepts about signs and meanings. The data collection technique used in this study is to read the note. The data analysis technique used in this study is a qualitative descriptive analysis method. The results of the analysis of the poetry Gardens and of Rain as follows. 1) Icons, indices, and symbols in the poem Gardens are found: (a) icons (in pieces / children of rain / which are interpreted as rain / drizzle), (b) index (in word fragments / fall / interpreted by the process of falling rain), (c) symbols (in fragments / sun / interpreted with hope and new enthusiasm). 2) Icons, indices, and symbols on the poem Rainy Mother by finding: (a) icons (in pieces / three kilograms of rain / weighted by human burdens in living life), (b) indexes (on pieces / shivering alone / interpreted as a condition of loneliness, (c) symbol (in fragments / rain / interpreted by the arrival of gifts and calamities) 3) Meaning in the poem Gardens and of Rain as follows. (a) Poetry Gardens has the meaning of the phenomenon of natural disasters that make the despair of the victim, (b) Poetry of Rain has the meaning of the journey of human life as an example of achieving the perfection of life.

I MAY BE ALONE BUT I DON'T FEEL LONELY: INSIGHTS FROM THE ORAL NARRATIVES OF CHILDLESS CENTENARIANS

Oral history narratives of nine childless centenarians (7 women, 2 men) from the Oklahoma 100 Year Life Project were reviewed to investigate loneliness. Oral history narratives were assessed qualitatively, using content analysis to determine themes. We predicted that childless centenarians would feel lonely due to “elder orphanhood.” Findings revealed little indication of loneliness. Centenarians admitted they voluntarily chose to remain childless due to raising siblings earlier in life or delaying marriage. However, most remained socially well-adjusted and connected to extended family, particularly nieces. When confronted by social network losses due to death or relocation, most adapted by actively seeking and forming new relationships. In some cases, childless centenarians remained gainfully employed and working. Childlessness does not appear to make centenarians lonely. Rather, purposeful pursuit of intrapersonal and interpersonal sources of lifelong emotional contentment may render childless centenarians immune from conditions of loneliness.

My computer is more thoughtful than you: Loneliness, anthropomorphism and dehumanization

Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions and intentions to non-human entities. The inverse process of anthropomorphism is dehumanization in which individuals treat humans like animals or objects. Two studies were conducted to investigate whether there are relationships between loneliness, anthropomorphism, and dehumanization. Study 1 (N = 91) employed the UCLA loneliness scale in order to examine the extent to which subjective experiences of loneliness related to the tendency to describe nonhuman agents (i.e., animal, computer) with humanlike characteristics. Participants attributed more humanlike capacities to nonhuman agents with increasing levels of self-rated loneliness. Study 2 (N = 70) induced the emotion of loneliness using an experimental writing task and examined whether there were significant differences in anthropomorphism and dehumanization between the experimental condition of loneliness and the control condition. Results found participants tended to perceive nonhuman agents to be more humanlike in the condition of loneliness than in the control condition. In addition, there was a stronger tendency of dehumanization toward other humans in the condition of loneliness than in the control condition. This implies that anthropomorphism is related to sociality motivation, which is the need for social connection through establishing bonds with nonhumans, and may result in the dehumanization of other humans.

Hallucinations, loneliness, and social isolation in Alzheimer's disease

ABSTRACTIntroduction: Cognitive and functional compromise, as frequently observed in Alzheimer's disease (AD), hinders communication and social interactions. One consequence of this hindrance may be a feeling of loneliness. Moreover, emptiness and boredom, as observed in social isolation and loneliness, may thus be compensated for by creating imagined stimuli. Conditions of loneliness may be viewed as potentially generating hallucinatory experiences. To assess this assumption, the present study explored the relationship between social isolation, loneliness, and hallucinations in a sample of 22 mild AD participants and 24 elderly, healthy controls. Methods: Participants were assessed using the Launay–Slade Hallucination Scale, the UCLA Loneliness Scale, and a scale exploring contact with others and social participation. Results: More hallucinatory experiences, social isolation, and loneliness were found in the AD group than in the healthy control group. Moreover, significant correlations were observed between hallucinations and loneliness and between hallucinations and social isolation in both groups. Finally, hallucinations were predicted by social isolation. Discussion: Hallucinations may constitute a compensatory mechanism that aims to fulfil communication needs in lonely, elderly participants. Hallucinations may also be regarded as experiences that allow certain participants to escape the cycle of boredom, emptiness, and affective deprivation caused by social isolation.

Always Lonely: Celebrity, Motherhood, and the Dilemma of Destiny

Just what is it about fame that so alienates women? or, why is it that famous women often speak of their experience of celebrity as something that is ultimately lonely and a shabby substitute for love? And why are these statements of loneliness in celebrity attenuated for mothers? Whether it is a famous American author of the nineteenth century and mother of seven, Harriet Beecher Stowe; an iconic and volatile star of the mid–twentieth century and mother of three, Judy Garland; or a twenty-first-century reality celebrity and mother of eight, Kate Gosselin, these women suggest that the experiences of fame are isolating and ultimately unsatisfying. To paraphrase Stowe, it is not fame and celebrity that satisfies the heart of the female star; it is the old-fashioned comforts of love. Their combined comments are thus a corrective to fans' implied perception of famous people as happy, when, indeed, their celebrity seems to have alienated them from love. Whether the female celebrity seeks romantic or familial love is not clear, and we would do well to realize that the abstract palliative is actually a culturally imagined comfort that probably has little to do with either these women in particular or stardom more broadly. But the consistent remarks about fame as a condition of loneliness establish a discursive imperative that the famous woman speak of longing for affective completion, in turn suggesting that public ardor cannot satisfy the woman's heart. In other words, fame cannot replace love.

Prostituição juvenil: uma condição existencial em busca de seus sentidos

A prostituição, no Brasil, vem sendo exercida por algumas crianças e adolescentes. Estudos apresentam como seus fatores constitutivos as questões estruturais (condição sócio-econômica desfavorável) e as simbólicas (relações de poder entre gênero e dinâmica familiar). Esta é uma pesquisa piloto, com embasamento teórico-metodológico sobre o estudo de produção de sentidos através das práticas discursivas. Com os estudos de casos, fez-se a análise do discurso das entrevistas realizadas com jovens que “fazem ponto” nas ruas de Ribeirão Preto/SP. Pode-se compreender a prostituição juvenil como um dispositivo capaz de produzir sentidos à suas histórias de vida, representações de resistência e sobrevivência a uma condição de solidão e revolta.

The Influence of Depression, and Family and Friendship Relations, on Residents' Loneliness in Congregate Housing

We examined the impact of various social relationships on levels of loneliness reported by 208 elderly residents of 10 senior housing apartments. Because the literature demonstrates a clear relationship between depression and loneliness, this study controlled for depression to provide a more concise look at the condition of loneliness. Those who were less satisfied with the quality of their relationships and had less contact with close friends were more lonely. Whether one had children, grandchildren, siblings, or neighbors had no significant effect on reported loneliness.