In this project, the situational factors that intensify or inhibit feelings of loneliness while alone are investigated and individual differences (e.g., introversion) that modify this process are identified. Despite the significant effect loneliness can have on health, there is still much that is unknown about its causes. Specifically, little is known about when social isolation will (and will not) evoke feelings of loneliness. For example, throughout the day, people typically move in and out of social isolation--perhaps an individual eats breakfast with his or her partner and then drives to work, alone. It is unclear from existing research if we should expect this person to feel any lonelier during this solitary drive than he or she felt while eating. Identifying the situational and individual risk-factors for loneliness may have wide-ranging benefits. This project has the potential to advance national health and welfare by indicating how people can maximize the benefit of their social behavior, as well as by strengthening behavioral interventions to reduce feelings of loneliness.
For this project, data will be collected from approximately 700 participants sampled from a demographically diverse group of online workers. Each participant will complete a survey and multiple time diaries using a web-based platform. In the time diaries, participants will report about their daily experiences in chunks of time oriented around "activities" (e.g., sleeping, driving to work, eating lunch) and they will record other information regarding these blocks of time (e.g., who they were with and the emotions they experienced). This time diary will capture moments of social isolation, feelings of loneliness during such isolation, and the contextual details expected to intensify or inhibit feelings of loneliness. The importance of these contextual details will be identified via appropriate statistical analyses.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
