A rapidly growing senior population is facing loneliness, desolation andisolation in our ageist society. Age-linked detachment and a number of socialinteractors are closely related to general health, physical condition anddepression.Using standardized instruments, the UCLA Loneliness Scale (Russellet al., 1980), the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (Zimetet al., 1988), and the Geriatric Depression Scale (Brink et al., 1982), this nonexperimental-study investigated the level of perceived loneliness, socialsupport and the causative relationship of these factors to the presence ofdepression among 50 independent, relatively healthy elders in a Montrealsenior centre.Findings suggest that loneliness is a major predictor of elderdepression. Lack of perceived social support could contribute to sensedloneliness and that depression may be present in healthy, independentelderly.Intergenerational workshops for seniors are suggested to improve lifesatisfaction through social interaction. Further goals are to modify myths,stereotypes and contradictory attitudes inherent to the cohort. / fr

Studies over the past couple of decades have depicted loneliness as a significant concern to physical health, although its meaning for overall health outcomes is still unclear. The precise impact of loneliness on life expectancy and on specific disease processes remains unknown. With regression modeling techniques, this thesis uses data from the Alameda County Health and Ways of Living Study to characterize the impact of loneliness on self-rated health, mortality, and fatalities from specific diseases. A key hypothesis is that loneliness as a health problem hinges on its persistence over time. This hypothesis is also tested by examining the reliability of the loneliness measure across the full 34 years of the survey. A second test is to examine its interplay with marital status as a mutable social circumstance. Results show that loneliness is a risk factor for poor self-rated health, non-ischemic cardiovascular diseases, cerebrovascular diseases, infections, and overall mortality. Results also show that loneliness need not be a stable problem across the life span in order to pose health risks. The reliability of the loneliness measure fades across time and levels of loneliness also vary with changes in marital status. Loneliness did not clearly mediate the impact of marital status on self-rated health, mortality, or specific causes of death.

Loneliness in the workplace has received relatively little attention in the literature. The research surrounding loneliness tends to focus almost exclusively on personal characteristics as the primary determinant of the experience, and largely ignores the workplace as a potential trigger of loneliness. As such, personality tends to be overestimated as the reason for loneliness, whilst only modest emphasis is given to environmental factors, such as organisational environments. Therefore, the overall aim of this thesis was to explore the notion of loneliness in the workplace, with a particular emphasis on examining the antecedents and outcomes of its development in work contexts. The first stage of the research included the development and empirical examination of a scale measuring work-related loneliness. A 16-item scale was constructed and tested for its reliability and factor structure on a sample of 514 employees from various organisations. Exploratory factor analysis indicated two factors best represent the data, namely Social Companionship and Emotional Deprivation at Work. For the main study, a theoretical model was constructed whereby various antecedents (personal characteristics, social support, job characteristics, and emotional climate) were hypothesised to influence the development of work-related loneliness, which in turn was thought to affect employee attitudes and wellbeing. Employees from various organisations were invited to participate in the online research via email, which generated 362 submissions from diverse occupational groups. Structural equation modelling techniques were used to assess the hypothesised model, which was evaluated against a number of fit criteria. The initial results provided limited support for the Loneliness at Work Model. Consequently, a number of adjustments were necessary to obtain sufficient fit. The modified model suggests that organisational climate (comprising climate of fear, community spirit at work, and organisational fit) serves to simultaneously predict the emotional deprivation factor of loneliness (made up of seven items) and employee attitude and wellbeing. The results indicate that environmental factors such as fear, lack of community spirit, and value congruence play a role in the experience of work-related loneliness and have an overall negative effect on employee withdrawal behaviours and job satisfaction. The findings from this study offer insight into possible areas for organisational intervention and future research.

Thesis (MA(Psychology))-University of Pretoria, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--The University of Mississippi, 2005. / Adviser: Karen Christoff. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--The Master's College, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 182-188).

Thesis (M.Sc.) -- Memorial University of Newfoundland. / Typescript. Bibliography: leaves 40-42. Also available online.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2004. / Leaf iv does not have the abstract. Abstract is missing from this dissertation. Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves -179-193). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2004. / Leaf iv does not have the abstract. Abstract is missing from this dissertation. Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves -179-193). Also available on the Internet.

The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the relationships between mobile social media use, personality and loneliness. Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and texting were studied. Undergraduate students (N = 352) were given a survey to assess how they use social media generally, loneliness and personality traits, as well as how they used social media in specific relationships in their life—with a strong, close tie, and with a more casual acquaintance. A state of “phoneliness” is proposed where an individual’s social media use contributes to feelings of loneliness, which then in turn affect social media use. Overall, this study finds evidence to suggest social media have some emotional benefit. The more platforms one uses, the less lonely he or she is likely to be. Each social media application had initial benefits wherein moderate use was associated with decreased loneliness. However, each platform also had a point of diminishing returns (ranging from 30 minutes/day to an hour/day) after which further use either had no effect or was associated with increased loneliness. Results are discussed in light of media multiplexity theory and social presence theory.