Studies of loneliness and social anxiety
I remember when Bowling Alone was a major book to read in 2000. This first study, completed almost a quarter century later, is a scary follow-up. Infurna, Dey, Gonzalez Avilés, Grimm, Lachman & Gerstorf (2024) published “Loneliness in Midlife: Historical increases and elevated levels in the United States compared with Europe” in American Psychologist. Here are the edited abstract and impact statements:
Loneliness is gaining attention globally as a public health issue because elevated loneliness increases one’s risk for depression, compromised immunity, chronic illness, and mortality. Our objective is to zoom into how loneliness has historically evolved through midlife and investigate whether elevations in loneliness are confined to the United States or are similarly transpiring across peer European nations. We use harmonized data on loneliness from nationally representative longitudinal panel surveys from the United States and 13 European nations to directly quantify similarities and differences in historical change of midlife loneliness trajectories. Compared with any other European nation/region, overall levels of loneliness in the United States are consistently higher by a magnitude of 0.3–0.8 SDs. Middle-aged adults in the United States, England, and Mediterranean Europe today report higher levels of loneliness than earlier born cohorts, whereas no historical changes (if not historically lower levels) were observed in Continental and Nordic Europe.
Loneliness is gaining attention globally as a public health issue as shown by the U.S. Surgeon General advisory report and several nations appointing ministers of loneliness. Our findings document cross-national differences in loneliness in midlife and shed light on potential root causes that contribute to cross-national differences in loneliness as well as policy levers that can reverse trends for the better. Changes in cultural norms and economic inequalities, as well as policy models pertaining to work, family, and health care could be driving differences in midlife loneliness.
The higher levels of midlife loneliness in the US are not surprising but the fact that our levels are much higher than in European countries is, at the very least, depressing. The next study looks at social anxiety. Chen, Sun, Huang & Yao (2023) published “Examining the Reciprocal Link Between Social Anxiety and Social Relationships Spanning from Childhood to Adulthood: A meta-analysis of longitudinal studies” in Developmental Psychology. The edited abstract and impact statements are as follows:
It is theoretically plausible that social anxiety (SA) and social relationships (SR) can influence each other. However, the available empirical evidence is inconsistent, leading to substantial uncertainty regarding the cross-lagged relations between SA and SR. This meta-analysis systematically integrates data from 107 longitudinal studies, comprising 110 independent samples and involving a total of 115,133 participants from childhood to adulthood. Four types of SR were assessed: family-related, school-related, romantic, and general relationships. One-stage meta-analytic structural equation modeling was applied to fit four cross-lagged panel models and to test potential moderators. No significant publication bias was detected. Effect size analyses revealed that prior SA significantly and negatively predicted quality of all types of SR. Family-related and general relationships each predicted prospective SA symptoms, but school-related and romantic relationships did not. No moderators were identified in analyses of family-related and romantic relationships. However, the publication year, sample age, gender, reporter, and time lag played a moderating role in analyses of school-related and general relationships. These findings suggest that SA is a crucial factor undermining SR and that dysfunctional family and general relationships also contribute to the exacerbation of SA symptoms.
A hotly debated issue in academia is whether past social anxiety (SA) hinders future social relationships (SR) or if prior poor SR precipitate subsequent SA symptoms. To shed light on this matter, a comprehensive meta-analysis was conducted, encompassing data from 107 longitudinal studies and involving over 110,000 participants. The findings suggest that SA poses a significant risk to all types of SR, but only family-related and general relationships potentially impacted later levels of SA.
This is another commonsense finding but a huge sample of studies. It makes sense that social anxiety undermines social relationships with dysfunctional family and general relationships exacerbating social anxiety. These studies suggest that identifying and targeting interventions to address social anxiety and loneliness may be important across the lifespan.