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This study investigates how existential connectedness and pet attachment influence loneliness in pet owners. Existential connectedness is a relatively new concept that further explains the relationship between loneliness and pet attachment. Participants completed the Existential Isolation Questionnaire, the Lexington Attachment to Pet Scale, and the UCLA Loneliness Scale in order to explore whether higher attachment to a pet is related to decreased loneliness among pet owners with low existential connectedness. Participants with low existential connectedness and high pet attachment to a personal pet of their own had significantly lower loneliness scores than those participants with low existential connectedness and low pet attachment. The participants with high existential connectedness had lower levels of loneliness overall and showed no difference in loneliness scores between low and high pet attachment. This study advances the understanding of the complicated relationship between pet ownership and loneliness in pet owners.

Loneliness in college students has been identified as a contributing factor to worsened mental health leading to greater rates of symptoms of depression, anxiety, stress, and others. The COVID-19 pandemic increased the severity of loneliness due to social isolation, however the relationship between loneliness and stress may have changed now in a post-COVID-19 world. This study hypothesized that loneliness does contribute to greater rates of stress in college students and that demographic factors such as gender, race/ethnicity, and first-generation student status influence that interaction. A survey was conducted at the University of Central Florida and acquired 47 total complete responses. Data gathered from the survey aligned with the hypotheses except for data pointing towards identifying as White behaving as an influencing factor rather than identifying as a racial/ethnic minority. Findings from the survey may be used to better reach vulnerable populations as well as information on how to better allocate institution resources.

Reframing in counseling offers the client a different framework for symptoms, thereby allowing the client a perspective that leads to change or no need for change. Using a loneliness measure as the dependent variable, 58 females underwent one of three treatments: positive reframing, self-control statements, or a waiting list control procedure. Two two-way analyses of covariance used an independent measure of dependency for the first analysis and a measure of perceived control for the second. Treatment type was the second dimension for each analysis. A significant interaction resulted for control by treatment F (2, 51) = 3.24; p < .05). A Newman-Keuls revealed significant differences for those who perceived themselves as in control, where reframing was more effective than either the control procedure (q_r = 3.56; p < .05) or those who perceived others as in control (q_r = 3.21; p < .05).

There are negative correlations between prosocial behaviors and loneliness and negative correlations between thinking about prosocial behaviors and loneliness. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of thinking about engaging in charitable behaviors on immediate feelings of social and emotional loneliness, as measured by the Social and Emotional Loneliness Scale (SELSA). To compare influences of thinking about charitable behaviors and not thinking about charitable behaviors, an experimental design was used. The theoretical framework was a mediational model in which thinking about engaging in a specific charitable behavior leads to perceived ability to participate in positive social interaction, which leads to increased sense of belongingness, which leads to decreased loneliness. This was based on the spreading activation theory and Peplau and Perlman’s social psychological theory of loneliness. A sample of 171 adults age 18 or older living in the United States completed an online questionnaire consisting of 1 of 3 randomly assigned writing prompt conditions: charitable thoughts writing prompt, control writing prompt, and no writing prompt. Data were analyzed through planned contrasts within a one-way ANOVA. Planned contrasts revealed no significant difference in social or emotional loneliness scores between participants in the experimental group and participants in either control group. Thinking about engaging in charitable behaviors does not lead to immediate reduction in loneliness, opening new questions for researchers to investigate what does lead to immediate reduction in loneliness. Nonsignificant findings help health professionals make informed decisions about how to help clients. They need scientific evidence to distinguish between what does and does not work.

The purpose of this essay was to examine the experience of loneliness as well as the strategies used to manage loneliness as described in Swedish podcasts. Swedish podcasts concerning the experience and managing of loneliness were picked using a strategic selection based on several criteria relating to the questions posed by the study. To analyse the empirical data a qualitative content analysis was used, combined with a theoretical framework based on the dramaturgical perspective and stigma theories of sociologist Erving Goffman. The experience of loneliness was found to be paradoxical in nature due to its social and relational elements. The interviewees throughout the study appeared to compare and relate their experience to that of other people. Furthermore, the study found loneliness to be heavily reliant on social interactions and thus did not exist in a vacuum of social isolation. Several coping methods were identified and in turn grouped as either constructive and active or counterproductive and passive.

This is a literature study, and it was done with the purpose of analyzing the consequences of loneliness among the elderly people. This study’s focus is on the consequences of loneliness among the elderly on an individual level and examining elderly’s position in society. Key terms in this study have been elderly and lioness. Loneliness is a hard defined term due to its complexity being a feeling, and therefore experienced differently from individual to individual. In our study we have used various articles and reports to answer our question of issue. There were studies that indicated that loneliness had a negative effect on the elderly. It was mainly mental illness in the form of depression but also physical health problems. However, there are studies that indicate that it is not possible to conclude that loneliness can cause health problems. In our study, various risk factors have been identified that may explain why older people tend to experience the feeling of loneliness. Example of risk factors that have been identified in our studies are the status of a partnership, economic factors, gender, family etcetera. Besides these factors another factor that is mentioned as a reason why the elderly tends to live in loneliness is discrimination that takes place in society. Based on the theory of ageism, we concluded that the elderly has a lower status in society and discrimination is a contributing factor.

In our technologically ever-advancing world, cell phones can either help us remain socially connected or can contribute to social isolation by substituting for face-to-face contact. This study examines the levels of social isolation in terms of the state of loneliness and trait of shyness and their correlations with academic achievement in 206 community college and university students to examine the connection between social isolation, GPA and cell phone use in college students. Two instruments used in the collection of data were the Revised Cheek and Buss Shyness Scale (RCBS) and the DeJong Gierveld Loneliness Scale. Correlational analysis was used to examine the relationships between variables. Hypothesis 1 proposed a significant negative relationship between higher levels of cell phone use and academic achievement as measured by self-reported GPA. This was partially supported by the research findings. Hypothesis 2 proposed a significant negative relationship between shyness and higher levels of cell phone use. This was also partially supported by the research findings. Hypothesis 3 proposed a significant positive relationship between loneliness and higher levels of cell phone use. This was not supported by research findings. Implications for further research include examining non-college populations for greater generalization of results and examining additional personality traits.

The longitudinal relationship between loneliness and depression as predictors of chronic health conditions in middle-aged to older adults was investigated utilizing data collected by the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a national representative longitudinal study of health, retirement, and aging, conducted by the Institute for Social Research (ISR) Survey Research Center (SRC) at the University of Michigan, funded by the National Institute on Aging and the Social Security Administration. The correlation between these loneliness and depression was moderate (r = .32 to r = 51). The single-item subjective self-report of loneliness was found to be an adequate measure of loneliness. A cross-lagged panel correlation and regression design was used to examine the longitudinal relationship between loneliness, depression, and chronic health conditions. A temporal precedence was indicated implying a causal relationship with depression leading to subsequent loneliness. The relationship between recurring loneliness and chronic health conditions was weak (r = .13).