{"title":"The Emotional Burden of Loneliness and its Association with Mental Health Outcomes.","authors":"Lambros Lazuras, Antonia Ypsilanti, Emma Mullings","doi":"10.1007/s12529-023-10255-1","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The present study examined, for the first time, the emotional burden of loneliness on dimensions of emotional valence and arousal, and its association with mental health outcomes.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>A cross-sectional design was used, and data were collected from 503 adults across the UK with an online survey. Measures included socio-demographic characteristics, self-reported measures of loneliness and social isolation, affective ratings (i.e., valence and arousal) of loneliness experiences, and symptoms of depression and anxiety as mental health outcomes.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The emotional burden of loneliness differed significantly across groups with differing loneliness experiences, and females scored significantly higher in the emotional burden of loneliness than males. The emotional burden of loneliness was associated with both depression and anxiety symptoms, and respectively added 4.7% and 6.2% of the variance, on top of measures of loneliness frequency and social isolation.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Measuring the valence and arousal dimensions of loneliness experiences advances our understanding of loneliness experiences and its association with mental health outcomes. The theoretical, methodological, and practical implications of our study are discussed.</p>","PeriodicalId":54208,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Behavioral Medicine","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.0000,"publicationDate":"2024-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11106108/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"International Journal of Behavioral Medicine","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s12529-023-10255-1","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2024/1/19 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, CLINICAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: The present study examined, for the first time, the emotional burden of loneliness on dimensions of emotional valence and arousal, and its association with mental health outcomes.
Method: A cross-sectional design was used, and data were collected from 503 adults across the UK with an online survey. Measures included socio-demographic characteristics, self-reported measures of loneliness and social isolation, affective ratings (i.e., valence and arousal) of loneliness experiences, and symptoms of depression and anxiety as mental health outcomes.
Results: The emotional burden of loneliness differed significantly across groups with differing loneliness experiences, and females scored significantly higher in the emotional burden of loneliness than males. The emotional burden of loneliness was associated with both depression and anxiety symptoms, and respectively added 4.7% and 6.2% of the variance, on top of measures of loneliness frequency and social isolation.
Conclusions: Measuring the valence and arousal dimensions of loneliness experiences advances our understanding of loneliness experiences and its association with mental health outcomes. The theoretical, methodological, and practical implications of our study are discussed.
期刊介绍:
The International Journal of Behavioral Medicine (IJBM) is the official scientific journal of the International Society for Behavioral Medicine (ISBM). IJBM seeks to present the best theoretically-driven, evidence-based work in the field of behavioral medicine from around the globe. IJBM embraces multiple theoretical perspectives, research methodologies, groups of interest, and levels of analysis. The journal is interested in research across the broad spectrum of behavioral medicine, including health-behavior relationships, the prevention of illness and the promotion of health, the effects of illness on the self and others, the effectiveness of novel interventions, identification of biobehavioral mechanisms, and the influence of social factors on health. We welcome experimental, non-experimental, quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods studies as well as implementation and dissemination research, integrative reviews, and meta-analyses.