Lonely Individuals Research Articles

Unwelcome Companions: Loneliness Associates with the Cluster of Pain, Fatigue, and Depression in Older Adults.

Objective: Pain, fatigue, and depression commonly co-occur as a symptom cluster in pathological inflammatory states. Psychosocial stressors such as loneliness may lead to similar states through shared mechanisms. We investigated the association of loneliness with pain, fatigue, and depression in older adults. Methods: Using Health and Retirement Study data (N = 11,766), we measured cross-sectional prevalence of frequent, moderate to severe pain; severe fatigue; depressive symptoms; and co-occurrence of symptoms surpassing threshold levels (i.e., symptom cluster). Logistic regression models evaluated associations with loneliness. Results: Pain, fatigue, and depression were reported in 19.2%, 20.0%, and 15.3% of the total sample, respectively. The symptom cluster was seen in 4.9% overall; prevalence in lonely individuals was significantly increased (11.6% vs. 2.3%, p < .0001). After adjusting for demographic variables, loneliness associated with the symptom cluster (adjusted OR = 3.39, 95% CI = 2.91, 3.95) and each symptom (pain adjusted OR = 1.61, 95% CI = 1.48, 1.76; fatigue adjusted OR = 2.02, 95% CI = 1.85, 2.20; depression adjusted OR = 4.34, 95% CI = 3.93, 4.79). Discussion: Loneliness strongly associates with the symptom cluster of pain, fatigue, and depression. Further research should examine causal relationships and investigate whether interventions targeting loneliness mitigate pain, fatigue, and depression.

URBAN MENTAL DESIRE &amp;#8212;TOKYO LONELINESS TREE HOLE PLAN

While the current urban public space pays more attention to the physical construction for the promotion of public health, systematic and specific studies on mental health is insufficient. Through the selection of a specified group of users and the analysis of their mental desire, this article explores the possibility of promoting urban mental health by spatial design. The "Tokyo Loneliness Tree Hole Plan" project suggests reconsidering and reshaping the positive perception of loneliness based on the Salutogenesis Theory and proposes a design guideline for tackling urban loneliness. The project utilizes a scenario-based research method to conceive a systematic strategy for establishing an urban "spiritual infrastructure," which offers the lonely individuals a chance to get along with themselves, the space, and the feeling of loneliness. As the new typology of urban public space with publicity and privacy simultaneously, "Urban Tree Holes" create empathy about solitariness between natural landscape elements and humans in oriental design aesthetics, in order to mitigate the urban loneliness and respond to the mental desire. "One Person Park" as an alternative form of future landscape investigating the concept of "private-public space," which might fulfill the new desire of using public space in a post-pandemic era.

Loneliness and Daily Stressors: The Protective Role of Daily Positive Events

Lonely individuals are particularly vulnerable to daily stressors. Yet, less is known about the protective role of daily positive social events on days lonely individuals experience a stressor. The current study examined whether experiencing a positive social event on the same day as a stressor helps lonely individuals maintain their daily emotional well-being. Participants from the Midlife in the United States Survey II and the National Study of Daily Experiences II reported their trait-levels of loneliness. A subset of the participants (N=1,730) also completed eight days of daily interviews and reported experiences of stressful events, positive social events, and emotions. On days lonely individuals reported experiencing a stressor, experiencing a positive social event was associated with a less increase in daily negative affect. However, this buffering effect did not generalize to non-lonely individuals. Results highlight a protective asset that might be important for helping lonely individuals maintain daily well-being.

“I Didn’t Think I Needed It. But I Find I Look Forward to It Very Much”: Social Connectedness and Physical Health through the Eyes of Older Adults

ABSTRACT Older adults are one of the least physically active populations and increasingly lonely. There is a growing body of literature that highlights that community-based programs are cost-effective to increase physical activity in the general population. However, little is known about community-based programs aimed to improve older adults’ physical activity and social connectedness. Given that lonely individuals are at risk for accelerated loss of physical functioning and health with age, physical activity interventions that also aim to enhance social connectedness may decrease loneliness and increase long-term physical activity participation. Thus, this study is part of a formative evaluation that will inform a larger scale out of community-driven physical activity and social connectedness programs for older adults in British Columbia, Canada. This article presents qualitative themes that shed light on the perceptions of thirteen older adults living in a rural context who participated in a community-driven health promotion program. The photovoice data reflect physical and social activity preferences and what facilitates/hinders participation. Social connectedness and its sub-themes intersect with themes: the natural environment, transportation, and physical and mental health. Findings offer insight for future physical activity and social connectedness programming and evaluation.

Revisiting the social stigma of loneliness

In past studies examining the stigmatization of loneliness, perceivers evaluated hypothetical targets who were lonely and socially inept or reclusive. For example, Lau and Gruen (1992) described the lonely target as a person who “pretty much keeps to himself.” This is problematic because recent research shows that lonely people do not have deficient social skills, and they spend no more time alone than nonlonely people. The purpose of the current research was to replicate Lau and Gruen's well-cited findings and then examine current perceptions of lonely individuals without confounding loneliness and sociability. We began, in Study 1, with a replication of Lau and Gruen. In Study 2, we asked college students to make judgments about targets who varied in their feelings of loneliness but not in their social behaviors. In a final study, we examined the perceptions among a larger and more diverse sample of U.S. adults. We found that college students, in general, disparaged lonely targets, but the stigma was more apparent when the lonely targets were described as reclusive. We found little evidence of stigmatization among the more diverse sample of U.S. adults. Our results highlight the need for additional research on the stigma surrounding loneliness.

Positive attitudes and negative expectations in lonely individuals

Loneliness is a central predictor of depression and major factor of all-cause mortality. Loneliness is supposed to be a warning signal prompting individuals to seek out social connections. However, lonely individuals seem to be less likely to engage in prosocial activities and are overall more socially withdrawn. Hence, it is yet unclear whether and how loneliness affects an individual’s social motivations. Prosocial attitudes and expectations about social interactions of lonely individuals might shed light on whether lonely individuals are more prone to connect or withdraw from social activities. Here, results from a large dataset (~ 15,500 individuals) provide evidence for both. In particular, lonely individuals indicate stronger altruistic attitudes, suggesting a positive tendency to build and maintain social bonds. However, they also report more negative expectations about others, as they believe their social partners be less fair and trustworthy, suggesting less favorable evaluations of social interactions. By highlighting an important link between loneliness, prosocial attitudes and social expectations, this work stresses the role of loneliness in social motivations, points to potential consequences for social behaviors, and proposes a mechanism for the paradoxical effects of loneliness on an individual’s social attitudes and expectations, with important implications for future basic and clinical research, as well as education, economics and public policy.

Robotic Pet Use Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults.

ObjectiveThe primary purpose of this study was to explore the efficacy of robotic pets in alleviating loneliness for older adults.MethodSelf-reported lonely individuals with AARP Medicare Supplement plans insured by UnitedHealthcare who participated in a program with a robotic pet (n = 20) were recruited to participate in semi-structured interviews. Participants were asked to provide feedback about their experiences interacting with a robotic pet, their perceptions about the potential impact on loneliness, and recommendations for improving the program. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Participants’ responses were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Constant comparison and consensus-gaining processes were used to develop categories that later formed representative themes.ResultsSeven themes emerged from analysis: Openness to Adoption of Robotic Pet, Reactions to Pet and its Attributes, Integration of Pet in Daily Life, Strategic Utilization and Forging New Connections, Deriving Comfort and Camaraderie, Advice for Future Users, and Recommendations for Enhancing Ownership Experience. Participants living alone, with fewer social connections and less active lifestyles, derived the most benefit from interacting with their pets. Common responses to pets included cuddling, petting, grooming, and sleeping with them. Some shared or loaned their pets, while others refused to loan their pets to interested peers. Most reported showing their pets to others, which helped some facilitate communication and social connections.ConclusionRobotic pets may be an effective solution for alleviating loneliness in older adults, especially among those who live alone, have fewer social connections, and live less active lifestyles.

The relationship between loneliness and working-memory-related frontoparietal network connectivity in people with major depressive disorder

Loneliness affects up to 40 % of middle-aged and older adults, and is closely associated with major depressive disorder (MDD). However, the relationship between loneliness and neural network functioning during executive cognitive processes, such as working memory, in MDD is still unclear. To address this gap, our study recruited 21 medicated MDD patients (mean age = 52.0 ± 5 years) and 24 matched healthy controls (HC) (mean age = 48.7 ± 6 years) who completed an n-back fMRI task. For behavioural performance, we observed no significant moderating effect of MDD or loneliness on the task condition effect. However, loneliness was positively associated, and MDD was negatively associated, with the functional connectivity between the inferior parietal cortex and the rostral dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC) during task performance. Furthermore, an interactive effect of loneliness and MDD was observed on the functional connectivity between the supplementary motor area and the caudal DMPFC during the n-back task, with loneliness showing a positive relationship in the HC group but a negative relationship in the MDD group with the connectivity. Our results indicated that loneliness may be associated with altered neural regulatory functioning on self-referential processing and action control, which may further depend on the individual’s depressive state. These findings can form the theoretical basis for devising intervention programme aimed at improving the mental wellness of the healthy and depressed lonely individuals.

Self-Other Representation in the Social Brain Reflects Social Connection.

Social connection is critical to well-being, yet how the brain reflects our attachment to other people remains largely unknown. We combined univariate and multivariate brain imaging analyses to assess whether and how the brain organizes representations of others based on how connected they are to our own identity. During an fMRI scan, female and male human participants (N = 43) completed a self- and other-reflection task for 16 targets: the self, five close others, five acquaintances, and five celebrities. In addition, they reported their subjective closeness to each target and their own trait loneliness. We examined neural responses to the self and others in a brain region that has been associated with self-representation (mPFC) and across the whole brain. The structure of self-other representation in the mPFC and across the social brain appeared to cluster targets into three social categories: the self, social network members (including close others and acquaintances), and celebrities. Moreover, both univariate activation in mPFC and multivariate self-other similarity in mPFC and across the social brain increased with subjective self-other closeness ratings. Critically, participants who were less socially connected (i.e., lonelier) showed altered self-other mapping in social brain regions. Most notably, in mPFC, loneliness was associated with reduced representational similarity between the self and others. The social brain apparently maintains information about broad social categories as well as closeness to the self. Moreover, these results point to the possibility that feelings of chronic social disconnection may be mirrored by a "lonelier" neural self-representation.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Social connection is critical to well-being, yet how the brain reflects our attachment to people remains unclear. We found that the social brain stratifies neural representations of people based on our subjective connection to them, separately clustering people who are and are not in our social network. Moreover, the people we feel closest to are represented most closely to ourselves. Finally, lonelier individuals also appeared to have a "lonelier" neural self-representation in the mPFC, as loneliness attenuated the similarity between self and other neural representations in this region. The social brain appears to map our interpersonal ties, and alterations in this map may help explain why lonely individuals endorse statements such as "people are around me but not with me."

Loneliness and cortisol are associated with social network regulation

ABSTRACT This study examines how loneliness and the body’s stress response system interact to regulate social connections. We suggest that the drive to reconnect signaled by loneliness can be accompanied physiologically by the production of cortisol, which can offer supportive coping resources. Thus, we investigated how loneliness, cortisol levels, and their interaction predicted changes in network connections in a social organization. Participants (n = 193; 53% female) provided friendship network data at two times. At time 1, participants reported on loneliness and donated saliva (later assayed for cortisol). Results revealed that concurrently, lonely individuals reported fewer friendships, whereas over time, they named more friends. These results support the hypothesis that loneliness is a signal to develop connections. We also explored whom lonely individuals befriended over time. Results showed that cortisol significantly moderated the preference for friends with a similar level of loneliness. Specifically, lonely individuals with higher cortisol befriended those who were less lonely over those who were lonelier. Thus, cortisol levels may serve an adaptive function in mobilizing resources to develop connections that fulfill social belongingness needs. Results supported the theorized signaling function of loneliness and revealed that loneliness and the stress response system interact to shape social connections.

Forma ljubavi apologija ličnosti - estetsko preosmišljavanje tela i ličnosti u filmu "Ona" Spajka Džonza

In this paper we will try to consider the problem of Body and Personality in the sci fi romantic drama Her by American director Spike Jonze in the light of Christian anthropology and Theology of Personality. We understand Jonze's art work as a case study related to the specific consequences of certain phenomena of postmodern society, such as alienation, loneliness or emotional instability. In his film, the director and screenwriter presents increasingly topical issues of our civilization, but also individual connection with high technologies in various aspects of life i.e. delicate relationships between man and self conscious forms of Artificial Intelligence. By basing the film storyline on the relationship between these two entities or two beings, Jones did not want to offer satire but to deal with the very delicate problem of personality in general alienation. As a result, the future world is inhabited by lonely individuals, inseparable from their smartphones, who receive love and attention from the virtual world. In his own aesthetic way, Jonze opened the Pandora's Box of possible outcomes of life with machines, which has begun in our own timeline. Therefore, we cannot unambiguously determine whether Her is a film dystopia or a film utopia.

Are U.S. older adults getting lonelier? Age, period, and cohort differences.

Media portrayals of a loneliness "epidemic" are premised on an increase in the proportion of people living alone and decreases in rates of civic engagement and religious affiliation over recent decades. However, loneliness is a subjective perception that does not correspond perfectly with objective social circumstances. In this study, we examined whether perceived loneliness is greater among the Baby Boomers-individuals born 1948-1965-relative to those born 1920-1947 and whether older adults have become lonelier over the past decade (2005-2016). We used data from the National Social Life, Health and Aging Project and from the Health and Retirement Study collected during 2005-2016 to estimate differences in loneliness associated with age, birth year, and survey time point. Overall, loneliness decreased with age through the early 70s, after which it increased. We found no evidence that loneliness is substantially higher among the Baby Boomers or that it has increased over the past decade. Loneliness is, however, associated with poor health, living alone or without a spouse-partner, and having fewer close family and friends, which together accounted for the overall increase in loneliness after age 75. Although these data do not support the idea that older adults are becoming lonelier, the actual number of lonely individuals may increase as the Baby Boomers age into their 80s and beyond. Our results suggest that attention to social factors and improving health may help to mitigate this. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Loneliness and depression dissociated on parietal-centered networks in cognitive and resting states.

Perceived loneliness, an increasingly prevalent social issue, is closely associated with major depressive disorder (MDD). However, the neural mechanisms previously implicated in key cognitive and affective processes in loneliness and MDD still remain unclear. Such understanding is critical for delineating the psychobiological basis of the relationship between loneliness and MDD. We isolated the unique and interactive cognitive and neural substrates of loneliness and MDD among 27 MDD patients (mean age = 51.85 years, 20 females), and 25 matched healthy controls (HCs; mean age = 48.72 years, 19 females). We assessed participants' behavioral performance and neural regional and network functions on a Stroop color-word task, and their resting-state neural connectivity. Behaviorally, we found greater incongruence-related accuracy cost in MDD patients, but reduced incongruence effect on reaction time in lonelier individuals. When performing the Stroop task, loneliness positively predicted prefrontal-anterior cingulate-parietal connectivity across all participants, whereas MDD patients showed a decrease in connectivity compared to controls. Furthermore, loneliness negatively predicted parietal and cerebellar activities in MDD patients, but positively predicted the same activities in HCs. During resting state, MDD patients showed reduced parietal-anterior cingulate connectivity, which again positively correlated with loneliness in this group. We speculate the distinct neurocognitive profile of loneliness might indicate increase in both bottom-up attention and top-down executive control functions. However, the upregulated cognitive control processes in lonely individuals may eventually become exhausted, which may in turn predispose to MDD onset.

Loneliness and Neighborhood Characteristics: A Multi-Informant, Nationally Representative Study of Young Adults

In this study, we investigated associations between the characteristics of the neighborhoods in which young adults live and their feelings of loneliness, using data from different sources. Participants were drawn from the Environmental Risk Longitudinal Twin Study. Loneliness was measured via self-reports at ages 12 and 18 years and also by interviewer ratings at age 18. Neighborhood characteristics were assessed between the ages of 12 and 18 via government data, systematic social observations, a resident survey, and participants’ self-reports. Greater loneliness was associated with perceptions of lower collective efficacy and greater neighborhood disorder but not with more objective measures of neighborhood characteristics. Lonelier individuals perceived the collective efficacy of their neighborhoods to be lower than did their less lonely siblings who lived at the same address. These findings suggest that feelings of loneliness are associated with negatively biased perceptions of neighborhood characteristics, which may have implications for lonely individuals’ likelihood of escaping loneliness.

Abstract # 3155 Loneliness is predictive of the inflammatory response to standardized antigen exposure in vivo

There is an established link between social isolation and poor health outcomes, although the exact mechanisms explaining this association remain unclear. Lonely individuals show an enhanced inflammatory response to acute stress, and in the present study we investigated if loneliness also predicts inflammatory responses to a standardized immune challenge (typhoid vaccination). Using a within-subjects crossover design (double-blind, placebo-controlled), 40 healthy male participants (mean age = 25, SD = 5) received a Salmonella Typhi vaccination (0.025 mg; Typhim Vi, Sanofi Pasteur, UK) or Placebo (saline) on two separate occasions, at least 1 week apart. Loneliness was assessed using the UCLA-R loneliness scale. As expected, vaccination increased IL-6 levels (vaccination + 419%; placebo −10%; p .001). This response was not accompanied by fever, sickness symptoms (e.g., nausea), or mood changes (all p > .10). Regression analyses showed that those scoring higher on loneliness showed a stronger IL-6 response (beta = 0.416, p .05; using placebo as a reference). This association withstood adjustment for a range of potentially confounding variables, including health behaviors (e.g., exercise, alcohol) and depressive symptoms. Enhanced inflammatory reactivity in more lonely individuals may form a pathway linking perceived social isolation to poorer health outcomes.

Loneliness increases attention to negative vocal tone in an auditory Stroop task

Lonely individuals are sensitive to negative social information. Past evidence for this finding comes mostly from research on visual cues (e.g., facial expression); less is known whether a parallel pattern occurs for auditory cues (e.g., voice). Using a vocal emotional Stroop task, we examined whether loneliness heightens attention to other's vocal tone. Compared to less lonely individuals, lonely participants' reaction time during the Stroop task was significantly slower when a positive (vs. negative) semantic word was presented via a negative vocal tone. It appears that lonely individuals, compared to others, are more distracted by the negative emotionality of a voice tone, which might signal social threats. This attentional bias remained when controlling for neuroticism, and was more pronounced when social, rather than nonsocial words were presented.

Why Loneliness Might Beget More Loneliness for Employees: An Empirical Analysis

Loneliness is an interpersonal phenomenon involving both the lonely individuals and the people from whom they feel disconnected. We focus our study on the behavioral and neurobiological responses o...

Poczucie osamotnienia a zadowolenie z życia osób w wieku 50 lat i więcej w Polsce w świetle danych badania GGS-PL

The main aim of the paper was the analysis of determinants of life satisfaction of people aged 50 years and more in Poland. The data used in the analysis came from the second wave of the Polish Generations and Gender Survey (GGS-PL) that had been carried out in 2014 and 2015. The linear regression models with the dependent variable describing life satisfaction were estimated. Explanatory variables, incorporated into the model, included basic socio-demographic variables as well as a variable describing loneliness. The obtained results are in line with those described in the literature. As expected, better educated individuals, with higher income are more satisfied with life. Similarly, married persons had higher life satisfaction than those living without a spouse. Moreover, persons in employment were more satisfied with life than those economically inactive, while unemployment diminishes life satisfaction of people aged 50+ in Poland, especially for men. The same was found for those having children: they were more satisfied with life than the childless. The most important finding is that the lonely individuals are less satisfied with their lives. Interestingly, the positive relationship between satisfaction with life and having children among people aged 50+ may be explained by loneliness. It means that childlessness is strongly related to loneliness and loneliness mediates the effect of childlessness on satisfaction with life.

Loneliness, health and mortality.

Literature suggests an association between loneliness and mortality for both males and females. Yet, the linkage of loneliness to mortality is not thoroughly examined, and need to be replicated with a long follow-up time. This study assessed the association between loneliness and mortality, including associations to gender, in 1363 adult swedes. This community-based prospective cohort study from the Swedish Lundby Study included 1363 individuals of whom 296 individuals (21.7%) were identified as lonely with use of semi-structured interviews in 1997. The cohort was followed until 2011 and survival analyses were used to estimate the relative risk of death. Death occurred with an incidence rate of 2.63 per 100 person-years and 2.09 per 100 person-years for lonely and non-lonely individuals, respectively. In crude analysis, loneliness was associated with a significant increased mortality risk of 27% compared with non-lonely individuals [hazard ratio (HR) 1.27; 95% CI 1.01-1.60]. Unadjusted, lonely females had a significant increased risk (HR 1.76; 95% CI 1.31-2.34) and adjusted insignificant increased mortality risk of 27% (HR 1.27; 95% CI 0.92-1.74), compared with non-lonely females. Lonely males were found to have an adjusted significant decreased risk of mortality (HR 0.50; 95% CI 0.32-0.80), compared with non-lonely males. Findings suggest an association between loneliness and increased risk of mortality and that gender differences may exist, which have not been previously reported. If replicated, our results indicate that loneliness may have differential physical implications in some subgroups. Future studies are needed to further investigate the influence of gender on the relationship.

The partial truths of compensatory and poor-get-poorer internet use theories: More highly involved videogame players experience greater psychosocial benefits

Research has established loneliness as a good predictor of intensive Internet use. But it is not fully understood whether Internet activity lessens lonely individuals' felt distress (known as positive psychosocial “compensation”), or by contrast further magnifies it (the “poor-get-poorer” hypothesis). Focused on online videogames in particular, we use qualitative cultural psychiatric interviews (N = 20) and path analysis of online survey data (N = 3629) to model pathways connecting loneliness, videogame involvement, and positive and negative online gaming experiences. Informed by social signaling theory, we hypothesize that lonely individuals who are intensively involved in online videogames (as opposed to playing casually) will experience more positive play experiences, given the way that such gamers’ costly expenditures of time, energy, and resources “signal” their commitment and also their insiderness to gaming communities, thus fostering for them a greater sense of social inclusion and support. By contrast, lonely gamers who fail to engage videogames in this intensive and socially supportive manner can instead compound their life distress with additional problems related to their online play. Ironically, it is thus gamers displaying dimensions of what seems on the surface to be “addictive” play—but is better described in this context as intensive gaming involvement—who experience the greatest psychosocial benefits from their play. Our research aims to add nuance to debates about how the Internet shapes the mental health of distressed emerging adults in particular. Rather than posing a single solution, we posit that the answer depends on the manner in which lonely and distressed individuals engage with life online.