Negative Effects Of Loneliness Research Articles

The beneficial effects of social support and prosocial behavior on immunity and health: A psychoneuroimmunology perspective

The COVID-19 pandemic emphasized the pivotal role of the social environment, prompting a surge in research on its impact on well-being and health. This article aims to examine the link between the social environment, the immune system, and health outcomes, with a particular focus on positive aspects like social support and prosocial behaviors that are under-explored. Different aspects of the social environment are examined: the negative effects of loneliness and adverse social conditions, contrasted with the benefits of social support and prosocial behaviors. While the mechanisms behind negative effects are partially studied, those driving the positive effects remain elusive. Understanding the mechanisms of lack of social connection and their effects will allow us to explore the benefits of social connections and whether they can reverse the adverse outcomes. Potential psychoneuroimmunology mechanisms are proposed, highlighting the promotion of a ‘safe’ state by the vagus nerve, oxytocin circuits, and the additional contribution of the reward pathways. This article reviews the need to bridge knowledge gaps, urging further research to study the causal effects of positive social interactions on immune response and health outcomes to raise clinical awareness and interventions. Such interventions may include integrating lonely individuals with prosocial activities, thereby improving their physical and mental health. There is growing potential to harness the power of social connections for the betterment of individual health and society as a whole.

The prevalence and severity of loneliness and deficits in perceived social support among who have received a ‘personality disorder’ diagnosis or have relevant traits: a systematic review

BackgroundLoneliness and struggles with unmet social needs are a common experience among people with ‘personality disorder’ diagnoses/traits. Given the impact of loneliness and poor perceived social support on mental health, and the importance of a sense of belonging for recovery, a systematic review examining the prevalence/severity of loneliness and deficits in perceived social support among people with ‘personality disorder’ diagnoses/traits is an essential step towards developing an intervention targeting the social needs of people with diagnoses/traits ‘personality disorder’. Despite an extensive literature on loneliness and deficits of perceived social support among people with ‘personality disorder’ diagnosis/traits, to date there has been no systematic review of this evidence.MethodWe conducted a systematic review synthesising quantitative data on the prevalence/severity of loneliness and deficits of perceived social support among people with diagnoses/traits of ‘personality disorder’ in comparison with other clinical groups and the general population. We searched Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, Web of Social Science, Google scholar and Ethos British Library from inception to December 2021. We conducted quality appraisals using the Joanna Briggs Critical appraisal tools and rated the certainty of evidence using the Grading of Recommendation, Assessment, Development and Evaluation approach. A narrative synthesis was used describing the direction and strength of associations prioritising high quality studies.FindingsA final set of 70 studies are included in this review, most of which are cross-sectional studies (n = 55), based in the United States (51%) and focused on community samples. Our synthesis of evidence found that, across all types of ‘personality disorders’ (except ‘narcissistic personality’ traits), people with traits associated with ‘personality disorder’ or meeting criteria for a diagnosis of ‘personality disorder’, have higher levels of loneliness, lower perceived relationship satisfaction, and poorer social support than the general population or other clinical samples.ConclusionThe quality of evidence is judged as low quality. However, given the distressing nature of loneliness and the known negative effects of loneliness on mental health and recovery, it is important for future research to explore mechanisms by which loneliness may exacerbate ‘personality disorder’ symptoms and the impact this has on recovery.

Alone in a Crowd: Is Social Contact Associated with Less Psychological Pain of Loneliness in Everyday Life?

People are often advised to engage in social contact to cope with the experience of loneliness and improve well-being. But are the moments of loneliness actually more bearable when spent in other people’s company? In this research, we proposed and tested two conflicting theoretical accounts regarding the role of social contact: social contact is associated with a stronger (the amplifying account) or with a weaker (the buffering account) negative effect of loneliness on psychological well-being. Analyses of three datasets collected using ecological momentary assessments (Nindividuals = 3,035) revealed that the negative association between loneliness and well-being was stronger when participants were with others than alone, consistent with the amplifying account. Further, when participants experienced high levels of loneliness, being with others was associated with the same or with even a lower level of well-being than being alone. These findings suggest that simply spending time with others (vs. alone) is not associated with a reduced burden of loneliness and may even backfire.

Psychometric Properties of the 11-Item De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale in a Representative Sample of Mexican Older Adults

Recent studies have focused on the negative effects of loneliness on health and quality of life in older adults. The De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale (DJGLS) has been widely used and has proven to be a valid and reliable instrument for loneliness assessment. However, research on this topic and on the validation of measurement scales among the older population is still incipient. The objective of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the 11-item DJGLS in Mexican older adults. Data from a representative sample of cognitively intact older adults aged 60 years and over (mean, standard deviation [SD]) age = 72.0 years (SD 8.1) from two Mexican cities (n = 1913), interviewed face to face at their homes during 2018-2019, were analyzed. The psychometric properties of the DJGLS were examined, including (1) construct validity, examined by Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), discriminate validity and convergent validity, (2) reliability, calculated using Cronbach's alpha. The overall data quality was high, and the scaling assumptions were generally met with few exceptions. Using EFA and CFA, the findings showed that the DJGLS presents a two-factor structure (Social Loneliness and Emotional Loneliness), with 11 items that explain 67.2% of the total variance. Reliability is adequate at the full-scale level (Cronbach´s α = 0.899), also for the two subscales Social and Emotional Loneliness (Cronbach´s α = 0.892 and 0.776, respectively). These results highlight that most participants with a low score for depressive symptoms and or with a high social support score belonged to the "No loneliness" group. The results showed that the Spanish version of the 11-item DJGLS is adequate for use in Mexican older adults and should be used not only for loneliness screening but also for social and emotional loneliness assessment.

Mental health and loneliness in Scottish schools: A multilevel analysis of data from the health behaviour in school-aged children study.

Adolescent loneliness and poor mental health represent dual public health concerns. Yet, associations between loneliness and mental health, and critically, how these associations vary in school settings are less understood. Framed by social-ecological theory, we aimed to identify key predictors of adolescent mental health and examine school-level variation in the relationship between loneliness and mental health. Cross-sectional data on adolescents from the 2018 wave of the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study (HBSC) in Scotland were used (N=5286). Mental health was measured as a composite variable containing items assessing nervousness, irritability, sleep difficulties and feeling low. Loneliness was measured via a single item assessing how often adolescents felt 'left out'. Multilevel models were used to identify social-ecological predictors of mental health, associations with loneliness and between-school variation. Loneliness, as well as demographic, social and school factors, was found to be associated with mental health. Mental health varied across schools, with the between-school difference greater among adolescents with high levels of loneliness. Additionally, the negative effect of loneliness on mental health was stronger in schools with lower average mental health scores. The findings suggest that schools can play an important role in shaping adolescent mental health. Our study uniquely identifies that school-based interventions targeting mental health may be especially necessary among lonely adolescents, and programmes aimed at tackling loneliness may be more beneficial in schools with poorer mental health.

Educational leaders' coping with loneliness: the unique perspective of school principals and vice-principals

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to explore school principals' and vice-principals' perceptions of their strategies of coping with loneliness at work. The study posed two questions: (1) how do educational leaders perceive their strategies of coping with loneliness at work? (2) What are the differences in the style of coping with loneliness between school principals and vice-principals, as they perceive it?Design/methodology/approachBased on 41 semi-structured interviews with 22 school principals and 19 vice-principals three main coping strategies were found.FindingsThis study differentiated between three strategies for coping with a sense of loneliness in the workplace: (1) receiving support from within and outside of the school, (2) action-oriented coping strategy, and (3) perspective-focused coping strategy. Some of these strategies characterized school principals while others characterized vice-principals.Practical implicationsEducational leaders' familiarity with a variety of coping strategies with a sense of loneliness, appropriate to their specific difficulty should be expanded.Originality/valueThe issue of coping with loneliness has barely been explored in the context of leaders and managers. This issue is of particular importance, given the negative effects of loneliness on leaders' mental well-being and their functioning at work.

“Live” Together with You: Livestream Views Mitigate the Effects of Loneliness on Well-being

ABSTRACT Most social networking sites today have integrated livestreaming functions into their platforms. Studies have acknowledged how social media use (i.e., social networking) can mitigate the effects of loneliness, but due attention has yet to be given to the consumption of livestream content. Using national survey data in Singapore (N = 1,606), this study demonstrates that livestream viewing positively influences individuals’ well-being. Notably, the frequency of livestream viewing moderates the negative effects of loneliness on the viewers’ psychological, social, and emotional well-being. Livestream viewing can be a short-term interventive solution to mitigate the effects of loneliness.

Loneliness, non-suicidal self-injury, and friendship quality among Chinese left-behind adolescents: The role of parent-child cohesion

Background: Loneliness is common among left-behind adolescents and can affect their friendship quality both negatively and positively. Most studies have focused on the negative effect of loneliness on friendship. However, loneliness may also motivate adolescents to seek close connections with peers through certain ways, that is, loneliness may indirectly positively influence friendship quality, which has not been explored. To address this gap, based on the life history theory and the interpersonal function model of non-suicidal injury (NSSI), this study aimed to examine the positive impact of loneliness on friendship quality via NSSI among left-behind adolescents. Moreover, given that NSSI is a severe health concern that should be prevented, the protective role of parent-child cohesion was also examined.Methods: A two-wave dataset was used. Participants comprised 1,013 adolescents (539 left-behind and 474 non-left-behind adolescents) completed self-report surveys that addressed loneliness, NSSI, friendship quality, and parent-child cohesion.Results: For left-behind adolescents, loneliness could affect friendship quality not only negatively but also positively through NSSI; increased loneliness predicted more NSSI which, in turn, was associated with high friendship quality. Moreover, the moderating effect of parent-child cohesion was significant. For non-left-behind adolescents, neither the direct nor the indirect positive effect through NSSI between loneliness and friendship quality was found.Limitations: All measures were based on self-reports. Cohesions with caregivers were not included.Conclusions: Findings advance our understanding of the relationships between loneliness, NSSI, and friendship quality among left-behind adolescents. They provide important implications for future interventions by addressing the role of high parent-child cohesion.

LINKS BETWEEN LONELINESS AND HAPPINESS IN JAPAN’S AGING POPULATION

Fertility rates in Japan have been historically low over several decades while life expectancy remains among the highest in the world. Consequently, traditional social networks consisting of immediate family and relatives have shrunk, and a growing number of older adults in contemporary Japanese society report feeling lonely. Thus, the well-being of Japans aging population is a major concern. While the negative effects of loneliness on perceived well-being (e.g., happiness) in later life have been well documented in western nations, relatively little is known from a Japanese context. Thus, we utilized a sample (n = 258) of urban community-dwelling Japanese adults age 65 years and older from the 2012 Survey of Mid-Life in Japan (MIDJA) to examine the association between happiness and loneliness. Consistent with findings from western nations, we identified strong links between happiness and loneliness in Japan. Results from ordinal logistic regression models showed that loneliness (OR = 0.80, p < 0.05) was negatively associated with happiness even after accounting for sociodemographic characteristics. Additionally, this study examined relevant demographic and cultural characteristics in order to contextualize the findings and identify possible explanations. For example, the cultural importance of family ties and gendered family roles was discussed in relation to the likely impact that increased levels of loneliness will have on the well-being of older Japanese adults. In sum, if the well-being of Japan’s rapidly aging population is to be maintained (or possibly even enhanced), then the growing societal issue of loneliness must be addressed.

Psychological predictors of loneliness among Palestinian university students in the West Bank.

The purpose of this study was to examine the predictive role of life satisfaction, perceived social support, and psychological problems on loneliness among Palestinian university students in the West Bank. Participants were 254 volunteer undergraduate students (50.4% males and 49.6% females), ranging from 18 to 26 years of age. Data was collected using the Loneliness Scale (UCLA), Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), Psychological Problems Scale and a Demographic Information Form. There was a significant gender bias towards loneliness, male students being lonelier than female students. Results showed that students who had higher loneliness, felt less satisfied with their life and perceived less support from friends, family and significant others. Furthermore, students who had high loneliness also presented more psychological problems. These results also indicated that, after accounting for psychological problems, life satisfaction, and social support from friends and significant others are negative predictors of loneliness. These findings suggest that universities should create strategies to improve well-being and social support to protect students from the negative effects of loneliness.

Loneliness in the elderly in Mexico, challenges to the public policies

The National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy (CONEVAL 2018) reports that 7.8% of the population in Mexico is 65 years old or older. Approximately 41.1% of this population lives in poverty, 34.6% lives in moderate poverty, and 6.6% lives in extreme poverty. While previous research has discussed the impact of poverty and loneliness on psychological development and well-being (Mayer, F. David, Ecología económica de lacapacidad cognitiva. 2010; Montero-López Lena, María, Pobreza como Dolor Social, su Impacto sobre la Salud Física y Mental en la vejez, 2018), there is limited research on the association of these variables on the mental health of older adults in Mexico. Thus, this study describes the relationship between loneliness and three variables linked to mental health in a sample of 1126 participants from Mexico City: stress, social support, and family interaction. In addition, the role of participants’ genders is considered in the analysis. The results indicate gender differences in the participants’ levels of reported stress and loneliness, but no significant differences were observed in their levels of social support and family interaction. Latent variable model results indicate that the negative effect of loneliness on mental health is attenuated when there are family support and social interaction. These results confirm the need to both deepen our understanding of the variables that promote mental health among older adults and to start a rigorous analysis of public policies aimed at the promotion of mental health in this demographic group in Mexico.

Investigating the roles of loneliness and clinician- and self-rated depressive symptoms in predicting the subjective quality of life among people with psychosis

PurposeTo examine the roles of loneliness and clinician- and self-rated depressive symptoms as predictors of the subjective quality of life (QoL) in psychosis.MethodsThis cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample of 207 patients diagnosed with psychotic disorders. They were assessed with self-reported measures of QoL, loneliness and depression and with clinician-rated measures of depression and overall psychopathology. Multiple indicators multiple causes (MIMIC) modeling was used to analyze the data.ResultsBoth loneliness and depression turned out to be independent predictors of impaired QoL. However, once loneliness was accounted for, the effect of depression on QoL was markedly reduced and the effect of loneliness proved to be visibly larger. Self-rated depression was found to be more strongly associated with QoL than clinician-rated depression. Each type of depression measure explained a unique amount of variance in QoL. Depression moderated the relationship between loneliness and QoL in such a way that the negative effect of loneliness on QoL weakened with the increasing intensity of depressive symptoms.ConclusionsTherapeutic programs aiming to enhance the QoL of people with psychotic disorders should incorporate interventions targeting both loneliness and depression and need to be tailored to the clinical status of patients. The emphasis on alleviating loneliness should be placed first of all in the case of those with low levels of depression, among whom the negative impact of loneliness on QoL is especially strong. Researchers should be aware that the method chosen for assessing depressive symptoms in models predicting QoL in psychosis matters.

Consequences of loneliness on physical activity and mortality in older adults and the power of positive emotions.

This longitudinal study examined the effect of greater happiness on the mortality and physical activity rates in a population of community-dwelling older people. In effect, it looked at the ability of happiness to 'undo' the negative effects of loneliness.

Perception and negative effect of loneliness in a Chicago Chinese population of older adults

This qualitative study aims to investigate the cultural understandings of loneliness, identify the contexts of loneliness, and to examine its effect on the health and well-being of U.S. Chinese older adults. Despite loneliness is one of the main indicators of well-being, little attention has been paid to understanding loneliness among immigrant older adults. This study utilizes both survey questionnaires and semi-structured focus group methods to investigate the feelings of loneliness among U.S. Chinese older adults. Based on interviews with 78 community-dwelling Chinese older adults in Chicago Chinatown, this community-based participatory research study (CBPR) shows loneliness is common among U.S. Chinese older adults. It was frequently identified through emotional isolation and social isolation. Social, psychological and physical health factors could contribute to the experience of loneliness. In addition, the health of older adults with loneliness may be associated with worsening overall health, elder mistreatment, health behavior changes and increased healthcare utilizations. This study has implications for healthcare professionals, social services agencies and policy makers. Our findings point to the needs for healthcare professionals to be more alert of the association of loneliness and adverse health outcomes. Communities and social services agencies should collectively take a lead in reducing social isolation, improving intergenerational relationships, and increasing social networks and companionship for this group of vulnerable older adults.