This study examined the relations among loneliness, friendship, and emotional functioning in adults (N = 108) with autism spectrum disorders. Participants completed self-report measures of symptoms of autism spectrum disorders, loneliness, number and nature of friendships, depression, anxiety, life satisfaction, and self-esteem. The results indicated that loneliness was associated with increase...

INTRODUCTION Prior research has established an association between loneliness and a variety of negative health conditions among older people. However, little is known about the mechanisms underlying this association. OBJECTIVE Building on the Loneliness Model, Hawkley and Cacioppo (2010) identified possible pathways through which loneliness may affect the development of adverse health conditi...

Loneliness, sometimes referred to as “perceived social isolation,” is defined as a subjective experience of social isolation. Loneliness has been shown to be related more to the quality of social relationships than to the quantity, and is typically characterized by feelings of social disconnection (e.g., being misunderstood by others). It occurs when there is a discrepancy between desired and a...

OBJECTIVE It is widely recognized that social networks and loneliness have effects on health. The present study assesses the differential association that the components of the social network and the subjective perception of loneliness have with health, and analyzes whether this association is different across different countries. METHODS A total of 10 800 adults were interviewed in Finland, ...

OBJECTIVES Loneliness is an important influence on quality of life in old age and has been conceptualised as consisting of two dimensions, social and emotional. This article describes analyses that sought to produce models of social and emotional loneliness in older people, using demographic, psychological and health, and social variables. METHOD Older people (aged 65+, n=1255) from the Barns...

PURPOSE The purpose of this paper is to present the development of LISTEN (Loneliness Intervention using Story Theory to Enhance Nursing-sensitive outcomes), a new intervention for loneliness. METHODS LISTEN was developed using the Medical Research Council (MRC) framework for intervention development. Extensive literature review revealed that belonging, relating, placing in community, challen...

UNLABELLED Socially supportive relationships at university may buffer against psychological stress in students, particularly in those experiencing loneliness. OBJECTIVES To examine the relation of social support at university and loneliness with pulse pressure (PP) reactivity to acute psychological stress in a sample of first-year undergraduate students. STUDY GROUP Sixty-five female, adole...

The transition to college enhances feelings of loneliness, and lonely students typically underperform academically due to the depletion of cognitive resources. Mindfulness practice has been demonstrated to improve certain cognitive abilities. The current study examined whether mindfulness practice may moderate the relations between perceived loneliness and academic performance. In this study we...

Loneliness is strongly linked to poor health. Recent research suggests that appetite dysregulation provides one potential pathway through which loneliness and other forms of social disconnection influence health. Obesity may alter the link between loneliness and appetite-relevant hormones, one unexplored possibility. We examined the relationships between loneliness and both postmeal ghrelin and...

OBJECTIVE This study evaluated the association between loneliness and the metabolic syndrome, which refers to a clustering of factors that have been shown to increase risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, stroke, and mortality. A secondary purpose was to evaluate whether age moderated the association between loneliness and the metabolic syndrome. DESIGN Participants were 52 to 79 years o...