1,416
Views
3
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Loneliness

The link between social anxiety and intimate loneliness is stronger for older adults than for younger adults

, , &
Pages 1246-1253 | Received 07 Jun 2018, Accepted 20 May 2020, Published online: 11 Jun 2020

References

  • Antony, M. M., & Swinson, R. P. (2017). The shyness and social anxiety workbook: Proven, step-by-step techniques for overcoming your fear. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications.‏
  • Ball, C., Francis, J., Huang, K. T., Kadylak, T., Cotten, S. R., & Rikard, R. V. (2019). The physical-digital divide: Exploring the social gap between digital natives and physical natives. Journal of Applied Gerontology: The Official Journal of the Southern Gerontological Society, 38(8), 1167–1184. doi:10.1177/0733464817732518
  • Caballo, V. E., Salazar, I. C., Irurtia, M. J., Arias, B., & Nobre, L. (2013). The assessment of social anxiety through five self-report measures, LSAS-SR, SPAI, SPIN, SPS, and SIAS: A critical analysis of their factor structure. Behavioral Psychology/Psicologia Conductual, 21(3), 423–448.‏
  • Cacioppo, J. T., Hawkley, L. C., Berntson, G. G., Ernst, J. M., Gibbs, A. C., Stickgold, R., & Hobson, J. A. (2002). Do lonely days invade the nights? Potential social modulation of sleep efficiency. Psychological Science, 13(4), 384–387. doi:10.1111/1467-9280.00469
  • Cacioppo, J. T., Hawkley, L. C., Crawford, L. E., Ernst, J. M., Burleson, M. H., Kowalewski, R. B., … Berntson, G. G. (2002). Loneliness and health: Potential mechanisms. Psychosomatic Medicine, 64(3), 407–417. doi:10.1097/00006842-200205000-00005
  • Cacioppo, J. T., Hawkley, L. C., Ernst, J. M., Burleson, M., Berntson, G. G., Nouriani, B., & Spiegel, D. (2006). Loneliness within a nomological net: An evolutionary perspective. Journal of Research in Personality, 40(6), 1054–1085. doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2005.11.007
  • Cacioppo, J. T., Hughes, M. E., Waite, L. J., Hawkley, L. C., & Thisted, R. A. (2006). Loneliness as a specific risk factor for depressive symptoms: Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. Psychology and Aging, 21(1), 140–151. doi:10.1037/0882-7974.21.1.140
  • Caplan, S. E. (2007). Relations among loneliness, social anxiety, and problematic Internet use. Cyberpsychology & Behavior: The Impact of the Internet, Multimedia and Virtual Reality on Behavior and Society, 10(2), 234–242. https://doi.org/doi:10.1089/cpb.2006.9963
  • Carstensen, L. L. (1992). Social and emotional patterns in adulthood: Support for socioemotional selectivity theory. Psychology and Aging, 7(3), 331–338. doi:10.1037//0882-7974.7.3.331
  • Carstensen, L. L. (1995). Evidence for a life-span theory of socioemotional selectivity. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 4(5), 151–156. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8721.ep11512261 doi:10.1111/1467-8721.ep11512261
  • Carstensen, L. L. (2006). The influence of a sense of time on human development. Science (New York, N.Y.), 312(5782), 1913–1915. doi:10.1126/science.1127488
  • Carstensen, L. L., Isaacowitz, D. M., & Charles, S. T. (1999). Taking time seriously: A theory of socioemotional selectivity. The American Psychologist, 54(3), 165–181. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.54.3.165
  • Carstensen, L. L., Turan, B., Scheibe, S., Ram, N., Ersner-Hershfield, H., Samanez-Larkin, G. R., … Nesselroade, J. R. (2011). Emotional experience improves with age: Evidence based on over 10 years of experience sampling. Psychology and Aging, 26(1), 21–33. https://doi.org/doi:10.1037/a0021285
  • Ciliberti, C., Gould, C., Smith, M., Chorney, D., & Edelstein, B. (2011). A preliminary investigation of developmentally sensitive items for the assessment of social anxiety in late life. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 25(5), 686–689. ‏doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2011.03.003
  • Dykstra, P. A. (1995). Loneliness among the never and formerly married: The importance of supportive friendships and a desire for independence. The Journals of Gerontology. Series B, Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 50(5), S321–S329. doi:10.1093/geronb/50b.5.s321
  • Dykstra, P. A., & Fokkema, T. (2007). Social and emotional loneliness among divorced and married men and women: Comparing the deficit and cognitive perspectives. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 29(1), 1–12. doi:10.1080/01973530701330843
  • English, T., & Carstensen, L. L. (2014). Selective narrowing of social networks across adulthood is associated with improved emotional experience in daily life. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 38(2), 195–202. doi:10.1177/0165025413515404
  • Erath, S. A., Flanagan, K. S., & Bierman, K. L. (2007). Social anxiety and peer relations in early adolescence: Behavioral and cognitive factors. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 35(3), 405–416. ‏ doi:10.1007/s10802-007-9099-2
  • Faul, F., Erdfelder, E., Buchner, A., & Lang, A. G. (2009). Statistical power analyses using G*Power 3.1: tests for correlation and regression analyses. Behavior Research Methods, 41(4), 1149–1160. doi:10.3758/BRM.41.4.1149
  • Fees, B. S., Martin, P., & Poon, L. W. (1999). A model of loneliness in older adults. The Journals of Gerontology. Series B, Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 54(4), P231–P239. doi:10.1093/geronb/54b.4.p231
  • Fresco, D. M., Coles, M. E., Heimberg, R. G., Liebowitz, M. R., Hami, S., Stein, M. B., & Goetz, D. (2001). The Liebowitz social anxiety scale: A comparison of the psychometric properties of self-report and clinician-administered formats. Psychological Medicine, 31(6), 1025–1035. doi:10.1017/s0033291701004056
  • Goldsmith, S. K., Pellmar, T. C., Kleinman, A. M., & Bunney, W. E. (2002). Reducing suicide: A national imperative. USA: National Academies Press.
  • Gould, C. E., Gerolimatos, L. A., Ciliberti, C., Edelstein, B. A., & Smith, M. D. (2012). Initial evaluation of the older adult social-evaluative situations questionnaire: A measure of social anxiety in older adults. International Psychogeriatrics, 24(12), 2009–2018. doi:10.1017/S1041610212001275
  • Hartshore, T. S. (1993). Psychometric properties and confirmatory factor analysis of the UCLA loneliness scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 61(1), 182–195. 10.1207/s15327752jpa6101_14
  • Hawkley, L. C., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2007). Aging and loneliness: Downhill quickly? Current Directions in Psychological Science, 16(4), 187–191. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8721.2007.00501.x
  • Hayes, A. F. (2018). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach. New York, NY: Guilford.
  • Hayes, A. F., & Matthes, J. (2009). Computational procedures for probing interactions in OLS and logistic regression: SPSS and SAS implementations. Behavior Research Methods, 41(3), 924–936. doi:10.3758/BRM.41.3.924
  • Hofmann, S. G. (2007). Cognitive factors that maintain social anxiety disorder: A comprehensive model and its treatment implications. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, 36(4), 193–209. doi:10.1080/16506070701421313
  • Hu, L. T., & Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 6(1), 1–55. doi:10.1080/10705519909540118
  • Kalpidou, M., Costin, D., & Morris, J. (2011). The relationship between Facebook and the well-being of undergraduate college students. Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, 14(4), 183–189. doi:10.1089/cyber.2010.0061
  • Kashdan, T. B., Doorley, J., Stiksma, M. C., & Hertenstein, M. J. (2017). Discomfort and avoidance of touch: New insights on the emotional deficits of social anxiety. Cognition & Emotion, 31(8), 1638–1646. ‏ doi:10.1080/02699931.2016.1256867
  • Levinson, C. A., Kaplan, S. C., & Rodebaugh, T. L. (2014). Personality: Understanding the socially anxious temperament. In: Weeks, J.W. (Ed.), The Wiley Blackwell handbook of social anxiety disorder (pp. 111–132). New York: Wiley Blackwell.
  • Liebowitz, M. R. (1987). Social phobia. In D.F. Klein (Ed.), Anxiety: Modern problems in pharmacopsychiatry (pp. 141–173). Basel: Karger.
  • Lim, M. H., Rodebaugh, T. L., Zyphur, M. J., & Gleeson, J. F. (2016). Loneliness over time: The crucial role of social anxiety. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 125(5), 620–630. doi:10.1037/abn0000162
  • Mahon, N. E., Yarcheski, A., Yarcheski, T. J., Cannella, B. L., & Hanks, M. M. (2006). A meta-analytic study of predictors for loneliness during adolescence. Nursing Research, 55(5), 308–315. doi:10.1097/00006199-200609000-00003
  • McWhirter, B. T. (1990). Factor analysis of the revised UCLA loneliness scale. Current Psychology, 9(1), 56–68. doi:10.1007/BF02686768
  • Mennin, D. S., Fresco, D. M., Heimberg, R. G., Schneier, F. R., Davies, S. O., & Liebowitz, M. R. (2002). Screening for social anxiety disorder in the clinical setting: Using the Liebowitz social anxiety scale. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 16(6), 661–673. doi:10.1016/S0887-6185(02)00134-2
  • Mohlman, J., Bryant, C., Lenze, E. J., Stanley, M. A., Gum, A., Flint, A., … Craske, M. G. (2012). Improving recognition of late life anxiety disorders in diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, Fifth Edition: Observations and recommendations of the advisory committee to the lifespan disorders work group. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 27(6), 549–556. doi:10.1002/gps.2752
  • Morahan-Martin, J., & Schumacher, P. (2003). Loneliness and social uses of the internet. Computers in Human Behavior, 19(6), 659–671. doi:10.1016/S0747-5632(03)00040-2
  • Newall, N. E., & Menec, V. H. (2019). Loneliness and social isolation of older adults: Why it is important to examine these social aspects together. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 36(3), 925–939. doi:10.1177/0265407517749045
  • Nolen-Hoeksema, S., & Ahrens, C. (2002). Age differences and similarities in the correlates of depressive symptoms. Psychology and Aging, 17(1), 116–124. doi:10.1037/0882-7974.17.1.116
  • O’Brien, R. M. (2007). A caution regarding rules of thumb for variance inflation factors. Quality & Quantity, 41(5), 673–690. doi:10.1007/s11135-006-9018-6
  • O’Day, E. B., Morrison, A. S., Goldin, P. R., Gross, J. J., & Heimberg, R. G. (2019). Social anxiety, loneliness, and the moderating role of emotion regulation. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 38(9), 751–773. doi:10.1521/jscp.2019.38.9.751
  • Penning, M. J., Liu, G., & Chou, P. H. B. (2014). Measuring loneliness among middle-aged and older adults: The UCLA and de Jong Gierveld loneliness scales. Social Indicators Research, 118(3), 1147–1166. doi:10.1007/s11205-013-0461-1
  • Perlman, D., & Peplau, L. A. (1981). Toward a social psychology of loneliness. In S. Duck & R. Gilmour (Eds.), Personal relationships in disorder (pp. 31–56). London: Academic Press.
  • Pinquart, M., & Sorensen, S. (2001). Influences on loneliness in older adults: A meta-analysis. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 23(4), 245–266. doi:10.1207/S15324834BASP2304_2
  • Reed, P., Giles, A., Gavin, M., Carter, N., & Osborne, L. A. (2016). Loneliness and social anxiety mediate the relationship between autism quotient and quality of life in university students. Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, 28(5), 723–733. doi:10.1007/s10882-016-9504-2
  • Reid, D. J., & Reid, F. J. (2007). Text or talk? Social anxiety, loneliness, and divergent preferences for cell phone use. Cyberpsychology & Behavior: The Impact of the Internet, Multimedia and Virtual Reality on Behavior and Society, 10(3), 424–435. doi:10.1089/cpb.2006.9936
  • Russell, D. (1982). The measurement of loneliness. In L. Peplau & D. Perlman (Eds.), Loneliness: A sourcebook of current theory, research, and therapy (pp. 81–104). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
  • Russell, D. W., Cutrona, C. E., De la Mora, A., & Wallace, R. B. (1997). Loneliness and nursing home admission among rural older adults. Psychology and Aging, 12(4), 574–589. doi:10.1037/0882-7974.12.4.574
  • Shalom, J. G., Israeli, H., Markovitzky, O., & Lipsitz, J. D. (2015). Social anxiety and physiological arousal during computer mediated vs. face to face communication. Computers in Human Behavior, 44, 202–208. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2014.11.056
  • Shaw, A. M., Timpano, K. R., Tran, T. B., & Joormann, J. (2015). Correlates of Facebook usage patterns: The relationship between passive Facebook use, social anxiety symptoms, and brooding. Computers in Human Behavior, 48, 575–580. ‏doi:10.1016/j.chb.2015.02.003
  • Sims, T., Hogan, C. L., & Carstensen, L. L. (2015). Selectivity as an emotion regulation strategy: Lessons from older adults. Current Opinion in Psychology, 3, 80–84. doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2015.02.012
  • Sparrevohn, R. M., & Rapee, R. M. (2009). Self-disclosure, emotional expression and intimacy within romantic relationships of people with social phobia. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 47(12), 1074–1078. doi:10.1016/j.brat.2009.07.016
  • Stein, M. B., & Stein, D. J. (2008). Social anxiety disorder. Lancet (London, England), 371(9618), 1115–1125. https://doi.org/doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(08)60488-2
  • Teppers, E., Luyckx, K., Klimstra, T. A., & Goossens, L. (2014). Loneliness and Facebook motives in adolescence: A longitudinal inquiry into directionality of effect. Journal of Adolescence, 37(5), 691–699. ‏doi:10.1016/j.adolescence.2013.11.003
  • Tornstam, L. (1992). Loneliness in marriage. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 9(2), 197–217. doi:10.1177/0265407592092003
  • Trollor, J. N., Anderson, T. M., Sachdev, P. S., Brodaty, H., & Andrews, G. (2007). Prevalence of mental disorders in the elderly: The Australian National Mental Health and Well-Being Survey. The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry: Official Journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, 15(6), 455–466. doi:10.1097/JGP.0b013e3180590ba9
  • Weinstock, L. S. (1999). Gender differences in the presentation and management of social anxiety disorder. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry‏, 60, 9–13.
  • Weiss, R. (1973). Loneliness: The experience of emotional and social isolation. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
  • Wolitzky-Taylor, K. B., Castriotta, N., Lenze, E. J., Stanley, M. A., & Craske, M. G. (2010). Anxiety disorders in older adults: A comprehensive review. Depression and Anxiety, 27(2), 190–211. doi:10.1002/da.20653
  • Xu, J. (2017). Research on the relationship among phone addiction, social anxiety and loneliness in high school students. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 05(06), 18–24. https://doi.org/0.4236/jss.2017.56003 doi:10.4236/jss.2017.56003
  • Yang, K., & Victor, C. (2011). Age and loneliness in 25 European nations. Ageing and Society, 31(8), 1368–1388. doi:10.1017/S0144686X1000139X

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.