Being without connection, felt and structural.
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526 to 550 of 969Feeling lonely versus being alone: loneliness and social support among recently bereaved persons.
Objectives: Despite increases in social support following widowhood, loneliness is among the most frequently reported challenges of bereavement. This analysis explores the dynamic relationship between social support and loneliness among recently bereaved older adults.
Methods: Using longitudinal data from "Living After Loss" (n = 328), latent growth curve modeling was used to estimate changes in loneliness and social support during the first year and a half of bereavement among older adults aged 50+.
Results: Both loneliness and social support declined over the first year and a half of bereavement. Greater social support was associated with lower levels of loneliness overall, but the receipt of social support did not modify one's expression of loneliness over time. Loneliness was more highly correlated with support from friends than family. Together, social support from both friends and …
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Zebhauser A, Hofmann-Xu L, Baumert J, Häfner S, Lacruz ME, Emeny RT, Döring A, Grill E, Huber D, Peters A, Ladwig KH (2014)MEDLINE-indexed journal, not yet read by usInternational journal of geriatric psychiatry81 citations How much does it hurt to be lonely? Mental and physical differences between older men and women in the KORA-Age Study.
Objective: Loneliness has a deep impact on quality of life in older people. Findings on sex-specific differences on the experience of loneliness remain sparse. This study compared the intensity of and factors associated with loneliness between men and women.
Methods: Analyses are based on the 2008/2009 data of the KORA-Age Study, comprising 4127 participants in the age range of 64-94 years. An age-stratified random subsample of 1079 subjects participated in a face-to-face interview. Loneliness was measured by using a short German version of the UCLA-Loneliness-Scale (12 items, Likert scaled, ranging from 0 to 36 points). Multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted to analyze the associations of socio-demographic, physical, and psychological factors with loneliness.
Results: The mean level of loneliness did not significantly differ between men (17.0 ± 4.5) and women (17.5 ± 5.1). …
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Loneliness among older veterans in the United States: results from the National Health and Resilience in Veterans Study.
Objectives: This study examined the current prevalence, and demographic, military, health, and psychosocial correlates of loneliness in a contemporary nationally representative sample of older U.S. veterans.
Methods: Two thousand twenty-five veterans aged 60 years and older participated in the National Health and Resilience in Veterans Study. Loneliness was assessed using a questionnaire adapted from the Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale. A broad range of demographic, military, health, and psychosocial variables was also assessed.
Results: 44% of veterans reported feeling lonely at least some of the time (10.4% reported often feeling lonely). Greater age, disability in activities of daily living, lifetime traumas, perceived stress, and current depressive and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms were positively associated with loneliness, and being married/cohabitating, higher income, grea…
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Loneliness is associated with an increased risk of sedentary life in older Israelis.
Objectives: Both loneliness and insufficient physical activity are common in old age. This study investigated the association between loneliness and adherence to recommended guidelines of physical activity in a national sample of Israelis, and examined whether loneliness was a risk factor for insufficient physical activity independent of other variables.
Methods: A random sample of 1663 (799 men) older adults aged 65+ reported their physical activity routine, and based on official guidelines were categorized as sufficiently active, insufficiently active, and inactive. In addition, they were divided into lonely or not lonely based on a single question from the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale.
Results: Chi-square analyses indicated that loneliness, but not living alone, were inversely related to level of physical activity in both genders. Based on multinomial stepwise log…
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Loneliness promotes inflammation during acute stress.
Although evidence suggests that loneliness may increase risk for health problems, the mechanisms responsible are not well understood. Immune dysregulation is one potential pathway: Elevated proinflammatory cytokines such as interleukin-6 (IL-6) increase risk for health problems. In our first study (N = 134), lonelier healthy adults exposed to acute stress exhibited greater synthesis of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and IL-6 by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) than their less lonely counterparts. Similarly, in the second study (N = 144), lonelier posttreatment breast-cancer survivors exposed to acute stress exhibited greater synthesis of IL-6 and interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) by LPS-stimulated PBMCs than their counterparts who felt more socially connected. However, loneliness was unrelated to TNF-α in Study 2, although the result was i…
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Loneliness in older persons: a predictor of functional decline and death.
Background: Loneliness is a common source of distress, suffering, and impaired quality of life in older persons. We examined the relationship between loneliness, functional decline, and death in adults older than 60 years in the United States.
Methods: This is a longitudinal cohort study of 1604 participants in the psychosocial module of the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative study of older persons. Baseline assessment was in 2002 and follow-up assessments occurred every 2 years until 2008. Subjects were asked if they (1) feel left out, (2) feel isolated, or (3) lack companionship. Subjects were categorized as not lonely if they responded hardly ever to all 3 questions and lonely if they responded some of the time or often to any of the 3 questions. The primary outcomes were time to death over 6 years and functional decline over 6 years on the following 4 measures: …
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A longitudinal analysis of loneliness among older people in Great Britain.
Longitudinal studies of loneliness among older people are comparatively rare. At 8 years after the initial survey in 1999-2000, we followed up on the 999 people aged 65+ years who were living in the community in the United Kingdom. We found that 583 participants were still alive, and 287 (58%) participated in the follow-up survey. The overall prevalence of loneliness at both time points was very similar, with 9% reporting severe loneliness; 30% reporting that they were sometimes lonely, and 61% reporting that they were never lonely. We developed a 12-category typology to describe changes in loneliness across the follow-up period and report that 60% of participants had a stable loneliness rating, with 40-50% rating themselves as never lonely, and 20-25% rating themselves as persistently lonely; 25% demonstrated decreased loneliness, and approximately 15% demonstrated worse loneliness. Cha…
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Mental health of elders in retirement communities: is loneliness a key factor?
Loneliness is often manifested by intense feelings of emptiness and abandonment and can lead to depression and suicide. The prevalence of loneliness in older adults is estimated to be 40%. This secondary analysis examined differences between elders reporting and elders not reporting loneliness and the effect of gender on resourcefulness and measures of physical and mental health within the context of L. C. Hawkley and J. T. Cacioppo's (2010) theoretical model of loneliness. A descriptive, comparative design was used to examine gender differences and associations among loneliness and indicators of physical and mental health. Results indicated that for overall health, and indicators of physical health (functional status and number chronic conditions), no significant differences were found between those who reported loneliness and those who reported no loneliness. There were significant dif…
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Loneliness is associated with sleep fragmentation in a communal society.
Study objective: Loneliness has been shown to predict poor health. One hypothesized mechanism is that lonely individuals do not sleep as well as individuals who feel more connected to others. Our goal was to test whether loneliness is associated with sleep fragmentation or sleep duration.
Design: Cross-sectional study.
Setting: Members of a traditional, communal, agrarian society living in South Dakota.
Participants: Ninety-five participants (mean age 39.8 years, 55% female) who were ≥ 19 years of age at the study's inception.
Interventions: Not applicable.
Measurements and results: We conducted interviews querying loneliness, depression, anxiety, and stress, as well as subjective sleep quality and daytime sleepiness. Study participants wore a wrist actigraph for one week to measure objective sleep properties; the two studied here were sleep fragmentation and sleep duration. Higher lonel…
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Loneliness predicts increased blood pressure: 5-year cross-lagged analyses in middle-aged and older adults.
Loneliness is a prevalent social problem with serious physiological and health implications. However, much of the research to date is based on cross-sectional data, including our own earlier finding that loneliness was associated with elevated blood pressure (Hawkley, Masi, Berry & Cacioppo, 2006). In this study, we tested the hypothesis that the effect of loneliness accumulates to produce greater increases in systolic blood pressure (SBP) over a 4-year period than are observed in less lonely individuals. A population-based sample of 229 50- to 68-year-old White, Black, and Hispanic men and women in the Chicago Health, Aging, and Social Relations Study was tested annually for each of 5 consecutive years. Cross-lagged panel analyses revealed that loneliness at study onset predicted increases in SBP 2, 3, and 4 years later (B = 0.152, SE = 0.091, p < .05, one-tailed). These increases were …
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Loneliness in old age: longitudinal changes and their determinants in an Israeli sample.
Background: There is a paucity of past research concerning longitudinal changes in loneliness in old age and in the factors that correlate with loneliness in older persons. This study examines (a) whether loneliness increases with age, (b) characteristics of the lonely older population, and (c) predictors of becoming lonely in old age.
Methods: Data are from the Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Aging Study, a national longitudinal study on the health, mental, and social status of people aged 75 and older living in Israel. Loneliness was measured as the frequency at which participants had felt lonely during the last month (range: 0-3). The analysis included two waves of data, with an average gap of 3.5 years between them, with 1147 participants at wave 1 and 588 participants at wave 2.
Results: Data showed an increase in the mean level of loneliness over time, rising from 0.62 to 0.80, p<…
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Kim J, LaRose R, Peng W (2009)MEDLINE-indexed journal, not yet read by usCyberpsychology & behavior : the impact of the Internet, multimedia and virtual reality on behavior and society171 citations Loneliness as the cause and the effect of problematic Internet use: the relationship between Internet use and psychological well-being.
The current research started from the assumption that one of the major motives driving individuals' Internet use is to relieve psychosocial problems (e.g., loneliness, depression). This study showed that individuals who were lonely or did not have good social skills could develop strong compulsive Internet use behaviors resulting in negative life outcomes (e.g., harming other significant activities such as work, school, or significant relationships) instead of relieving their original problems. Such augmented negative outcomes were expected to isolate individuals from healthy social activities and lead them into more loneliness. Even though previous research suggests that social use of the Internet (e.g., social networking sites, instant messaging) could be more problematic than entertainment use (e.g., downloading files), the current study showed that the former did not show stronger as…
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A preliminary look at loneliness as a moderator of the link between perfectionism and depressive and anxious symptoms in college students: does being lonely make perfectionistic strivings more distressing?
An integrative model involving perfectionism [Hewitt, P. L., & Flett, G. L. (1991). Perfectionism in the self and social contexts: Conceptualization, assessment, and association with psychopathology. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 456-470] and loneliness as predictors of depressive and anxious symptoms was proposed and tested in 383 college students. Beyond the expected additive influences of the two predictors in the prediction of symptoms, loneliness was also hypothesized to moderate the link between perfectionism and symptoms. Results indicated that other-oriented perfectionism predicted anxious symptoms, whereas socially prescribed perfectionism predicted both depressive and anxious symptoms. Loneliness was found to add incremental validity to these predictions. Moreover, the Perfectionism x Loneliness interaction was found to further augment the prediction of depr…
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Creating social connection through inferential reproduction: loneliness and perceived agency in gadgets, gods, and greyhounds.
People are motivated to maintain social connection with others, and those who lack social connection with other humans may try to compensate by creating a sense of human connection with nonhuman agents. This may occur in at least two ways-by anthropomorphizing nonhuman agents such as nonhuman animals and gadgets to make them appear more humanlike and by increasing belief in commonly anthropomorphized religious agents (such as God). Three studies support these hypotheses both among individuals who are chronically lonely (Study 1) and among those who are induced to feel lonely (Studies 2 and 3). Additional findings suggest that such results are not simply produced by any negative affective state (Study 3). These results have important implications not only for understanding when people are likely to treat nonhuman agents as humanlike (anthropomorphism), but also for understanding when peop…
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Loneliness is a unique predictor of age-related differences in systolic blood pressure.
A population-based sample of Caucasians, African Americans, and Latino Americans, 50-68 years of age (M = 57.5), from Cook County, Illinois (N = 229), was tested to examine how loneliness and co-occurring psychosocial factors (depressive symptoms, perceived stress, social support, and hostility) were related to indices of cardiovascular and endocrine functioning. Extending prior research, the authors found that loneliness was associated with elevated systolic blood pressure (SBP) and age-related increases in SBP, net of demographic variables, health behavior variables, and the remaining psychosocial factors. Loneliness was not associated with differences in autonomic or endocrine functioning. Although the results are limited by the cross-sectional methods used, they are consistent with the hypothesis that cardiovascular disease contributes to increased morbidity and mortality among lonel…
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Mental health of medical workers in Japan during COVID-19: Relationships with loneliness, hope and self-compassion.
The current pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has negatively impacted medical workers' mental health in many countries including Japan. Although research identified poor mental health of medical workers in COVID-19, protective factors for their mental health remain to be appraised. Accordingly, this study aimed to investigate relationships between mental health problems, loneliness, hope and self-compassion among Japanese medical workers, and compare with the general population. Online self-report measures regarding those four constructs were completed by 142 medical workers and 138 individuals in the general population. T-tests and multiple regression analysis were performed. Medical workers had higher levels of mental health problems and loneliness, and lower levels of hope and self-compassion than the general population. Loneliness was the strongest predictor of ment…
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Using social risk factors to predict allostatic biotypes of depression: A latent profile and multinomial regression analysis.
Objective: Major depression is often difficult to treat, particularly among individuals exposed to psychosocial risks like childhood maltreatment, loneliness, and recent stress. These experiences may lead to biological dysregulation consistent with allostatic load theory. This study explored whether distinct biological profiles among adults with depression are associated with specific psychosocial and health-related factors.
Method: Data were drawn from the Midlife in the United States study (MIDUS), including 367 participants with clinically significant depressive symptoms (CES-D ≥ 16). Latent profile analysis identified biological profiles based on 23 biomarkers across seven systems: inflammation, glucose, sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems, HPA-axis, cardiovascular, and lipids. Multinomial regression models examined associations between profile membership and psychosocial…
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Madison AA, Kamp Dush CM, McDade TW, McDade TW, Peng J, Andridge RR, Cole SW, Blevins T, Kasibhatla N, Manning W, Christian LM, Christian LM (2026)MEDLINE-indexed journal, not yet read by usBiopsychosocial science and medicine Social Support, Loneliness, and Inflammation in LGB+ Subgroups: Health Disparities in a Partnered US Cohort.
Objective: To examine differences in social support, loneliness, and immune function by sexual orientation and to explore whether social support and loneliness mediate immune outcomes.
Methods: Participants (394 heterosexual, 144 gay/lesbian, 144 plurisexual) completed the Perceived Social Support Questionnaire and the UCLA Loneliness short-form and provided dried blood spot samples to index i mmune markers [Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) titers, C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6)] between September 2020 and November 2021.
Results: Plurisexual (Cohen's d =-0.80) and heterosexual ( d =-0.64) males had lower friend support than gay males ( p' s < .0015), plurisexual ( d =-0.42) and gay/lesbian ( d =-0.40) adults reported lower family support than their heterosexual peers ( p' s < .001), and plurisexual people had higher CRP levels compared with gay/lesbian ( d =0.37) and heterosexual…
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How family structure shapes adolescent mental health under financial hardship?
Background: Financial hardship and family structure are each known to influence adolescent mental health, but their interactive effects remain underexplored. This study examined whether specific family structures buffer or amplify the impact of household financial hardship on adolescent mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods: We analyzed data from the 2021-2022 Korea Youth Risk Behavior Survey, a nationally representative sample of 101,402 adolescents aged 12-18 years. Mental health outcomes included sleep problems, loneliness, perceived stress, anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation. Financial hardship was assessed by self-reported household-level economic difficulty due to the pandemic. Family structure was categorized as two-parent, single-mother, single-father, step-family, and grandparent family. We conducted complex-sample logistic regression and calculated both ad…
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Loneliness as a mediator between family separation and life satisfaction among Ukrainian refugee women in Germany.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has led to one of the largest population displacements in Europe since World War II. Different from other recent refugee flows, Ukrainian refugees are predominantly women, often separated from partners who remained behind. Using data from the "IAB-BiB/FReDA-BAMF-SOEP Survey on Refugees from Ukraine in Germany," this cross-sectional study examines how separation-related loneliness and integration barriers are associated with life satisfaction among displaced women who arrived in Germany in 2022. Structural equation modeling showed that the association between forced family separation and life satisfaction operated entirely through indirect pathways involving loneliness and integration barriers. Loneliness accounted for the largest share of this indirect association and acted as a key intermediary, being linked to both lower life satisfaction and greater int…
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Experiencing awe in daily life is linked to lower loneliness.
Loneliness affects 55% of healthcare workers, putting them at risk for health problems. These include mental health issues (e.g., depression and anxiety) and physical ailments (e.g., inflammation, heart disease, and increased substance abuse). Despite the well-established link between loneliness and health, research on healthcare workers’ experiences of loneliness remains limited. To address this gap, we conducted a 22-day daily diary study to test whether daily awe predicts reduced loneliness in healthcare workers. Our within-person analyses showed that participants who experienced more awe than usual reported less loneliness on the same day. Notably, this association remained significant after controlling for other positive emotions known to benefit well-being and was replicated in a community sample. Further analysis showed that the sense of connectedness, central to awe, accounted fo…
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Dynamic interactions between physical activity, exercise adherence, and adverse psychological states in Chinese older adults: a cross-lagged network analysis.
Background: With the accelerating process of population ageing in China, negative emotional problems in older people have become increasingly prominent. Exploring the dynamic relationship between these emotions and physical activity, as well as exercise adherence, is of great significance for promoting the physical and mental health of older people.
Methods: This study used a longitudinal design to conduct two follow-up surveys of 876 older adult individuals in China. A cross-lagged network analysis method was employed to examine the interactions between physical activity, exercise adherence, and adverse psychological states indicators (depression, anxiety, stress, loneliness, and sadness/anger rumination).
Results: Cross-sectional network analysis showed that physical activity and exercise adherence maintained a stable relationship, and the network structure tended to become more concen…
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Always online, still alone: A qualitative study of technology-facilitated loneliness and mood symptoms among university students.
Digital technologies are deeply embedded in university students' daily lives and are increasingly recognized as relevant to their mental health. This qualitative study explored how students experience technology facilitated loneliness and mood symptoms within the context of everyday digital use at King Khalid University in Abha, Saudi Arabia. A phenomenological design was used to capture lived experiences. Twenty undergraduate students who reported daily non-academic smartphone use and feelings of loneliness and low mood participated in semi structured interviews conducted in Arabic or English. Data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Four interrelated themes were identified. Surrounded but unseen described how students felt emotionally invisible despite constant online contact, with thin connections and subtle digital exclusions contributing to loneliness and self-doubt. Te…
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Gillooly A, Thompson P, Bradshaw J, Caton S, Hatton C, Jahoda A, Kelly R, Maguire R, Oloidi E, Taggart L, Todd S, Coronavirus and People With Learning Disabilities Study Team, Hastings RP (2025)MEDLINE-indexed journal, not yet read by usJournal of intellectual disability research : JIDR1 citations The Mental Health and Well-Being of Adults With Intellectual Disabilities During the COVID-19 Pandemic Across the UK: A Four-Wave Longitudinal Analysis.
Background: Research concerning the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health and well-being of adults with intellectual disabilities has been cross-sectional and small scale. We examined the trajectory of mental health and well-being across the pandemic period across the UK and the factors which predicted different mental health trajectories.
Method: Adults with intellectual disabilities participated in co-designed structured interviews. Four waves of data were collected between December 2020 and late 2022. At Wave 1, 621 adults with intellectual disabilities participated, with 355 at Wave 4. Well-being, pandemic anxiety, depression, anxiety, anger and loneliness outcomes were measured. Latent class mixed modelling was used to identify subgroups and within-group trajectories.
Results: Well-being and pandemic anxiety remained relatively stable across time, but levels of anger,…
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Social isolation induces sexually aggressive behaviour in male Wistar rats.
Background: Sexual violence, a pervasive global issue, significantly impacts individuals and societies, necessitating a deeper understanding of its underlying biological mechanisms. This study aimed to elucidate the role of stress-induced dysregulation of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenocortical axis in sexual aggression in male Wistar rats. Employing a sexual aggression paradigm, we investigated the effects of social isolation on aggression, anxiety-like behaviour, and neurochemistry in virgin adult male Wistar rats.
Results: The results showed that social isolation significantly escalated aggressive behaviours and induced anxiety-like responses in male rats. The sexual aggression test revealed that socially isolated males exhibited heightened aggression towards non-receptive females. Neurochemical analyses indicated significant alterations in key markers, such as corticotrophin-releas…
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