State Loneliness Research Articles

The Double Jeopardy of Feeling Lonely and Unimportant: State and Trait Loneliness and Feelings and Fears of Not Mattering.

There have been recent concerns about an “epidemic of loneliness” during the pandemic, given the pervasiveness of loneliness in the population and its harmful effects on health and well-being. Therefore, it is important to establish the correlates of loneliness. The purpose of the current study was to explore how loneliness relates to a construct termed mattering, which is the feeling of being important to other people. Mattering was assessed with multiple measures in the current study (e.g., mattering in general, fears of not mattering, and mattering to peers). A sample of 172 female psychology undergraduate students aged 18–25 years completed self-report measures of general mattering, mattering to peers, anti-mattering, fear of not mattering, and state and trait loneliness. As predicted, lower levels of both general mattering and mattering to peers were associated with higher state loneliness. Higher feelings of anti-mattering (feelings of being invisible and insignificant to others) and fears of not mattering were associated with greater trait loneliness, as well as a reduced sense of mattering to friends. The findings illustrate that feeling as though one does not matter to others (i.e., feeling insignificant and unimportant) is associated with increased state and trait loneliness among young women. Implications are discussed for loneliness theory and how these results can enhance both clinical understanding and practice.

Loneliness and Social Engagement: The Unique Roles of State and Trait Loneliness for Daily Prosocial Behaviors

Loneliness is a distressing yet adaptive emotional experience that alerts us to socially re-engage. However, loneliness can also lead to social withdrawal and isolation. To reconcile the seemingly contradictory consequences of loneliness, we unpack the timing of the underlying processes by distinguishing between the roles of state loneliness (i.e., daily variations in loneliness) and trait loneliness (i.e., person-average loneliness) in predicting social re-engagement. Using ten days of electronic daily assessments from 95 older adults (M age = 67.0 years; 64.2% women), initial findings indicate that trait loneliness moderates time-varying associations between state loneliness and prosocial behavior: On days of elevated state loneliness, older adults low in trait loneliness report increases in prosocial behavior, whereas older adults high in trait loneliness show decreases in prosocial behavior. Findings suggest that transient loneliness may motivate older adults to actively re-engage with others; chronic loneliness may undermine such adaptive responses.

Effects of Chronic and State Loneliness on Heart Rate Variability in Women.

Loneliness, the subjective experience of social isolation, represents one of the largest risk factors for physical illness and early death in humans. However, the mechanisms by which loneliness leads to adverse health outcomes are not well understood. In this study, we examined altered parasympathetic nervous system function as a potential pathway by which chronic loneliness and state loneliness may "get under the skin" to impact cardiovascular physiology. In a controlled laboratory setting, vagally mediated resting heart rate variability (HRV), HRV reactivity to an induction of state loneliness, and HRV reactivity to a cognitive challenge task were assessed in a sample of 316 healthy women (18-28 years). Greater chronic loneliness in women predicted lower resting HRV, an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality, after controlling for demographic, psychosocial, and health behavior covariates. Furthermore, women higher in chronic loneliness experienced significantly larger increases in HRV to state loneliness and reported significantly higher levels of negative affect immediately following state loneliness, compared with their less chronically lonely counterparts. Chronic loneliness also predicted blunted HRV reactivity-a maladaptive physiological response-to cognitive challenge. The current findings provide evidence that chronic loneliness is associated with altered parasympathetic function (both resting HRV and HRV reactivity) in women, and that the immediate experience of state loneliness is linked to a proximate increase in HRV among chronically lonely women. Results are discussed in terms of implications for cardiovascular health and the evolutionary functions of loneliness.

Effect of State Loneliness on Robot Anthropomorphism: Potential Edge of Social Robots Compared to Common Nonhumans

Previous studies have widely demonstrated that loneliness will increase people’s anthropomorphic tendency on nonhuman agents. This research extends the effect of loneliness to social robots and differentiates them and common nonhuman agents (e.g., gadgets, animals). Remarkably divergent effects have been verified: experimentally induced loneliness has a positive effect on anthropomorphism of a social robot but not a gadget clocky or an animal. Practical implications are: (1) could prime consumers’ state loneliness when marketing domestic robot products; (2) emphasize humanlike warmth when designing social robots for companion. The findings have found social robots’ edge in providing companionship compared with common nonhuman agents.

State loneliness is associated with emotional hypervigilance in daily life: A network analysis

Loneliness is associated with many physical and mental health problems, but the underlying mechanism remains unclear. Studies on trait loneliness have found evidence supporting the hypothesis that loneliness is associated with hypervigilance for social threats. However, few studies have examined this hypothesis with state loneliness. This study aims at testing the hypervigilance hypothesis of loneliness by examining the temporal dynamics between state loneliness and the momentary affect in daily life. We measured state loneliness and momentary positive and negative affect in 211 college students over a period of 13 days, using the experience sampling method. The network analysis revealed that state loneliness has a strong autoregressive effect and is positively correlated to sadness, fear, alertness, and hostility in the temporal and contemporaneous networks. In the temporal network, state loneliness formed mutually reinforced feedback loops with the feelings of alertness and hostility. The between-subject network suggested that the feeling of fear mediated the connections between loneliness and alertness, hostility, and anxiety. The centrality analysis showed that loneliness has a high strength centrality in the temporal and contemporaneous networks. These findings demonstrate how state loneliness interacted with momentary affect in daily life, indicating its association with emotional hypervigilance.

Loneliness of adult and juvenile prisoner influences on psychological affect: Mediation role of control source

AbstractPrisoners' affective education is a hot topic in criminal psychology. The lack of the social support for prisoners means that they are more prone to loneliness. The mental health status of the prisoners directly concerns their social adaptation when released. We therefore explored the relationship between loneliness, psychological affect, and control source in 201 prisoners. Prisoners completed the state and trait loneliness scale, the affectal scale, the internal control, powerful others, and chance scale. Mediation effect analysis was conducted to explore the mediation role of the control source from influence of loneliness on psychological affect. State loneliness indirectly affected positive affect through internal control factors. Trait loneliness directly affected negative affect, and trait loneliness indirectly affected negative affect through opportunity factors. Overall, this study uncovers some of the psychological mechanisms underlying emotional state in prisoners, highlights the need for effective psychological correction programmes in the prison system and provides reference for effectual ascension of prisoners out of jail.

Reducing consumer loneliness through brand communities

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the role of belonging to brand communities in improving consumer well-being and brand evaluations.Design/methodology/approachTwo studies were conducted. Study 1 manipulates the framing of a brand to be either socially- or product-oriented and measures brand community joining intentions based on underlying levels of consumer loneliness and need to belong. Study 2 manipulates feelings of belongingness with a brand community and measures its impact on relatedness satisfaction, state loneliness and brand evaluations.FindingsStudy 1 finds that lonely consumers with a high need to belong are more likely to express intentions to join a brand community when it is socially-oriented. Study 2 finds that belonging to a brand community improves relatedness satisfaction which, in turn, reduces state loneliness and improves brand evaluations.Practical implicationsThis research has significant implications for marketing practitioners who are looking to foster relationships among consumers in the form of brand communities, especially given the positive impact of these communities on consumer well-being. These findings suggest that marketers should create brand communities that foster a social (rather than product) focus to create a sense of belongingness with the brand and among its community members, and that doing so can improve relatedness satisfaction needs and reduce consumer loneliness.Originality/valueThis research contributes to the growing literature on consumer loneliness and is among the first to identify the positive psychological outcomes of socially-oriented brand communities on loneliness.

A Novel Tool for the Early Identification of Frailty in Elderly People: The Application in Primary Care Settings.

Frailty is a pre-disability condition in older persons providing a challenge to Health-Care Systems. Systematic reviews highlight the absence of a gold-standard for its identification. However, an approach based on initial screening by the General Practitioner (GP) seems particularly useful. On these premises, a 9-item Sunfrail Checklist (SC), was developed by a multidisciplinary group, in the context of European Sunfrail Project, and tested in the Community. - to measure the concordance between the judgments of frailty (criterion-validity): the one formulated by the GP, using the SC, and the one subsequently expressed by a Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment Team (CGA-Team); - to determine the construct-validity through the correspondence between some checklist items related to the 3 domains (physical, cognitive and social) and the three tools used by the CGA-Team; - to measure the instrument's performance in terms of positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV). Cross-sectional study, with a final sample-size of 95 subjects. Two Community-Health Centers of Parma, Italy. Subjects aged 75 years old or more, with no disability and living in the community. We compared the screening capacity of the GP using the SC to that one of CGA-Team based on three tests: 4-meter Gait-Speed, Mini-Mental State Examination and Loneliness Scale. 95 subjects (51 women), with a mean age of 81±4 years were enrolled. According to GPs 34 subjects were frail; the CGA-Team expressed a frailty judgment on 26 subjects. The criterion-validity presented a Cohen's k of 0.353. Construct-validity was also low, with a maximum contingency-coefficient of 0.19. The analysis showed a PPV of 58.1% and a NPV equal to 84.6%. Our data showed a low agreement between the judgements of GP performed by SC and CGA-Team. However, the good NPV suggests the applicability of SC for screening activities in primary-care.

The effects of lack of meaning on trait and state loneliness: Correlational and experience-sampling evidence

Do we feel particularly lonely when we find what we are doing as pointless? A two-part study was conducted to examine the association between perceived meaning of an activity and loneliness. Part I was a cross-sectional study with 243 participants (Mage = 19.3, SD = 1.66, 70.8% female). The results demonstrate that meaningful life engagement was negatively associated with trait loneliness (β = −0.407, p < .001), controlling for age, gender, and personality. In Part II, 148 participants completed an experience-sampling task (Mage = 19.2, SD = 1.75, 73.0% female). Across seven consecutive days, participants were prompted by a smartphone app to fill out a questionnaire at multiple random time points per day. Results from multilevel modeling indicated that situational meaningfulness was a negative predictor of state loneliness (B = −0.057, SE = 0.026, p = .027), above and beyond age, gender, personality, meaningful life engagement, trait loneliness, day of the week, aloneness, and state boredom. Together these findings suggest there is an association between the meaninglessness of an activity and the feeling of loneliness.

Transient Loneliness and the Perceived Provision and Receipt of Capitalization Support Within Event-Disclosure Interactions.

Research affirms that loneliness is a distressing experience with social-perceptual and behavioral consequences. Yet, little is known about consequences of transient loneliness, particularly within social interactions. The current study builds on reaffiliation motive and evolutionary models of state loneliness to investigate the effects of experimentally manipulated loneliness on individual and interaction partner perceptions during an event-sharing interaction, within 97 female dyads. Actor-partner interdependence mediation analyses revealed indirect effects for induction group (high vs. low loneliness) on positive affect, enjoyment, responsiveness, and partner positive affect, via induced state loneliness. Furthermore, state loneliness influenced actor and partner provision of responsiveness, via perceived responsiveness. Results reveal interpersonal consequences of transient loneliness, offering preliminary insight into conditions through which state perceptions of isolation may interfere with engagement in positive social interactions. Furthermore, implications for previously theorized evolutionary models of state loneliness and the reaffiliation motive are discussed.

Stigma and Pain in Adolescents Hospitalized for Sickle Cell Vasoocclusive Pain Episodes.

Sickle cell disease (SCD) pain and hospitalizations increase during adolescence and adolescents with SCD may be at-risk for experiencing health-related stigma, which may result in poor health outcomes. This study examined relations among health-related stigma, pain interference, social support, quality of life (QOL), and hospital outcomes (ie, loneliness, pain reduction, and length of stay [LOS]) in adolescents hospitalized with SCD pain. Twelve- to 18-year-old adolescents (N=92) hospitalized with SCD pain completed measures of stigma, pain interference, social support, QOL, and state loneliness. Reduction of pain intensity during hospitalization and LOS were collected from medical chart review. Higher stigma was associated with higher pain interference, lower QOL, more loneliness, and less pain reduction in the hospital. Pain interference was positively associated with LOS. These preliminary findings highlight the importance of assessing and addressing SCD-related stigma and pain interference in adolescents hospitalized for SCD pain as these factors may influence treatment outcomes.

Unraveling the Role of Loneliness in Depression: The Relationship Between Daily Life Experience and Behavior

Objective: Focusing on temporal associations between momentary (or state) loneliness, appraisal of social company, and being alone in daily life may help elucidate mechanisms that contribute to the development of prolonged (or trait) loneliness and major depressive disorder (MDD). We aim to examine if (a) a self-reinforcing loop between loneliness, negative appraisals of social company, and being alone in daily life may contribute to trait loneliness; (b) this possible self-reinforcing loop may also contribute to the development of MDD, by testing differences in temporal relationships between these social elements in participants who did or did not develop MDD during follow-up; and (c) any of these social elements at baseline predicted a MDD at follow-up. Methods: A female general population sample (n = 417) participated in an experience sampling method (ESM) study. Time-lagged analyses between loneliness, appraisal of social company, and being alone were examined at baseline, and their associations with the development of MDD during 20 months follow-up were investigated. Results: State loneliness was followed by an increase in negative appraisals of social company and a higher frequency of being alone. Further, negative appraisals of social company were associated with a higher frequency of being alone afterward. Only the latter was significant in the transition to MDD group. Trait loneliness predicted MDD during follow-up. Conclusions: Avoiding social contact after appraising company more negatively may contribute to the development of MDD.

The impact of daily and trait loneliness on diurnal cortisol and sleep among children affected by parental HIV/AIDS

Dysregulation of the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis and disruptions of restorative processes (e.g., sleep) have been proposed as two key mechanisms through which loneliness leads to medical morbidity in adults and late adolescents. Whether loneliness acts through these biological and behavioral intermediaries in children as well remains unexplored. In a sample of 645 children aged 8–15 affected by parental HIV/AIDS in rural China, trait and state (i.e., daily) loneliness were measured in a 3-day diary study, wherein participants also provided cortisol samples and sleep measures. Whereas high levels of trait loneliness were found to predict lower morning cortisol levels, longer time in bed, lower sleep quality, and a higher number of night awakenings, daily loneliness was associated with a flatter diurnal cortisol slope and shorter time in bed. Although the association between trait loneliness and daily loneliness with HPA activity remained significant after controlling for psychological constructs that overlap with loneliness (e.g., depression and daily negative affect), some of the associations between loneliness and sleep measures became non-significant after including these additional covariates. These findings provide the first empirical evidence to our knowledge of associations between trait and state loneliness and health-related outcomes among school-aged children and young adolescents.

Trait and State Levels of Loneliness in Early and Late Adolescents: Examining the Differential Reactivity Hypothesis

According to the differential reactivity hypothesis, lonely individuals respond differently to their environment compared to nonlonely individuals, which may sustain their loneliness levels. However, this interesting hypothesis has not yet been explored in daily life: Do lonely individuals feel lonely all the time, or do they feel more or less lonely in specific social contexts? The main aim of the present study was to test the differential reactivity hypothesis in daily life by examining in three samples whether trait levels of loneliness affected the levels of state loneliness in different social contexts. We used baseline questionnaires to measure trait loneliness and the Experience Sampling Method to collect data on state loneliness, in early adolescents (N = 269, Mage = 14.49, 59% female) and late adolescents (N = 223, Mage = 19.60, 91% female) from the Netherlands and late adolescents from the United States (N = 126, Mage = 19.20, 51% female). Results provided evidence for the differential reactivity hypothesis in the total sample, as high lonely adolescents experienced higher levels of state loneliness in situations in which they were alone than low lonely adolescents, but also benefited more from being with intimate company than low lonely adolescents. In sum, the present study provided evidence for the differential reactivity hypothesis and showed that the experience of loneliness in daily life was remarkably similar across age and culture. Our findings provide important insights into the daily experiences of trait lonely people, which may provide starting points for interventions.

Loneliness in the Daily Lives of Adolescents

The main aim of the present study was to examine state levels of loneliness in adolescence. Both concurrent associations and temporal dynamics between social contexts and state levels of loneliness were examined. Data were collected from 286 adolescents ( Mage = 14.19 years, 59% girls) by using the Experience Sampling Method. Results showed that adolescents had higher levels of state loneliness when they were alone, compared with being with company. When adolescents were with others, they were most lonely at school and with classmates. Adolescents showed a relief effect when they entered the company of friends after being alone, whereas a spillover effect of solitude was found when adolescents entered the company of family after being alone. Our findings show the dynamics of state loneliness, in that being with classmates increases state loneliness, whereas being with friends reduces loneliness after being alone.

Harnessing the Power of Loneliness: A Social Functional Approach to Loneliness at Work

Much of the current theoretical and empirical research exploring the behavioral outcomes of loneliness is based on chronic loneliness. However, nearly everyone has experienced transient feelings of loneliness throughout their life. This article examines the social function of state loneliness at work. By drawing on theories of belonging (Baumeister & Leary, 1995; Pickett & Gardner, 2005), attributions (Weiner, 1974; Weiner, 1979), and motivation (Vroom, 1964), I propose an interactive model in which lonely individuals with a high need to belong and/or who make unstable attributions for their loneliness will be more likely to help others as a way to repair perceived interpersonal deficiencies than lonely people who lack these individual differences. This model is tested in two studies with both measured and manipulated state loneliness. Implications for employees and organizations are discussed.

The Oxytocin Receptor Gene (OXTR) in Relation to State Levels of Loneliness in Adolescence: Evidence for Micro-Level Gene-Environment Interactions

Previous research has shown that the rs53576 variant of the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) is associated with trait levels of loneliness, but results are inconsistent. The aim of the present study is to examine micro-level effects of the OXTR rs53576 variant on state levels of loneliness in early adolescents. In addition, gene-environment interactions are examined between this OXTR variant and positive and negative perceptions of company. Data were collected in 278 adolescents (58% girls), by means of the Experience Sampling Method (ESM). Sampling periods consisted of six days with nine assessments per day. A relation was found between the OXTR rs53576 variant and state loneliness, in girls only. Girls carrying an A allele had higher levels of state loneliness than girls carrying the GG genotype. In addition, adolescents with an A allele were more affected by negative perceptions of company than GG carriers, on weekend days only. No significant gene-environment interactions were found with positive company. Adolescents carrying an A allele were more susceptible to negative environments during weekend days than GG carriers. Our findings emphasize the importance of operationalizing the phenotype and the environment accurately.

Effect of authenticity on behavior problems and loneliness of high school students

Objective To investigate the effect of the high school students' authenticity in the relationships with parents and friends on their behavior problems and loneliness. Methods A total of 619 high school students in Guangdong province participated in this study. The instruments included the Authenticity Scale, the Youth Self-Report and the State versus Trait Loneliness Scales. Results (1) Authentic self in the relationship with parents were significantly and negatively related to internalizing problems (depression/anxiety, social withdrawal and somatic complaints, standardized regression coefficients were -0.17, P<0.01; -0.10, P<0.05; -0.10, P<0.05), externalizing problems (aggression and delinquency, standardized regression coefficients were -0.16, P<0.01; -0.21, P<0.01) and loneliness (trait loneliness and state loneliness, standardized regression coefficients were -0.17, P<0.01; -0.17, P<0.01). (2) Authentic self in the relationship with friends was significantly and negatively related to internalizing problems (depression/anxiety, social withdrawal and somatic complaints, standardized regression coefficients were -0.24, P<0.01; -0.28, P<0.01; -0.10, P<0.05) and loneliness(trait loneliness and state loneliness, standardized regression coefficients were -0.29, P<0.01; -0.34, P<0.01). Conclusion Authenticity in the relationships with parents and friends has the positive effect on adolescents’ psychosocial adjustment. Key words: Authenticity; Behaviour problems; Loneliness; Parents; Friends; High school students

Predictors of Chest Pain after Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting

To identify preoperative biopsychosocial factors characterizing patients who will experience chest pain (self-reported) one year after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), 111 patients under 61 years of age were evaluated by questionnaire before CABG and 12 months postoperatively. A ?Coronary Health Profile? was evolved to study quality-of-life indicators, e.g. ?Sense of Coherence? (SOC), emotional state (loneliness, depressed mood, stress, anxiety) and social support as well as experience of chest pain, and the results were correlated to biomedical data. Chest pain was experienced in the first postoperative year by 34% of the patients. These patients, who were younger than those without chest pain, generally had a body mass index >25, as well as lower preoperative values for SOC, poorer emotional state and social support. Independent predictors in a multivariate stepwise logistic regression analysis were moderate/weak SOC, ejection fraction <50%, and moderate/severe mood depression. We conclude that biomedical as well as psychosocial factors have a significant impact as predictors of chest pain (of any origin) after CABG, and must be considered in preoperative evaluation. The findings indicate the need for biopsychosocial support/intervention before as well as after CABG.

Interpersonal relatedness and self‐definition in the experience of loneliness during the transition to university

AbstractBlatt's (1900) theory on the two primary dimensions in personality—interpersonal relatedness and self—definition—was applied to the study of loneliness during the transition to university. Participants were 176 students (84 males and 92 females) who completed the Depressive Experiences Questionnaire (DEQ) at the beginning of First‐year university (time 1) and the UCLA Loneliness Scale (trait and state versions) at the beginning and at the middle of first‐year university (time 2). A subsample of students (n= 74) also completed Sharabany's Intimacy Scale at time 2. Trait loneliness was accounted for by higher levels of Self‐Criticism (SC) and lower levels of Efficacy (E). Change in state loneliness from time t to time 2 (i.e., overcoming state loneliness) was predicted by lower Self‐Criticism and higher Efficacy. In the relationship with an intimate partner, Self‐Criticism negatively predicted frankness, sensitivity, and trust, whereas Dependency positively predicted attachment, giving, and trust. The centrality of self‐criticism in vulnerability to loneliness and in lack of intimacy is discussed, and directions for future research on loneliness and personality styles are suggested.