Most people have experienced loneliness and have been able to overcome it to reconnect with other people. In the current review, we provide a life-span perspective on one component of the evolutionary theory of loneliness—a component we refer to as the reaffiliation motive (RAM). The RAM represents the motivation to reconnect with others that is triggered by perceived social isolation. Loneliness is often a transient experience because the RAM leads to reconnection, but sometimes this motivation can fail, leading to prolonged loneliness. We review evidence of how aspects of the RAM change across development and how these aspects can fail for different reasons across the life span. We conclude with a discussion of age-appropriate interventions that may help to alleviate prolonged loneliness.

The present study employed latent growth mixture modeling to discern distinct trajectories of loneliness using data collected at 2‐year intervals from age 7–17 years (N = 586) and examine whether measures taken at age 5 years were good predictors of group membership. Four loneliness trajectory classes were identified: (1) low stable (37% of the sample), (2) moderate decliners (23%), (3) moderate increasers (18%), and (4) relatively high stable (22%). Predictors at age 5 years for the high stable trajectory were low trust beliefs, low trusting, low peer acceptance, parent reported negative reactivity, an internalizing attribution style, low self‐worth, and passivity during observed play. The model also included outcome variables. We found that both the high stable and moderate increasing trajectories were associated with depressive symptoms, a higher frequency of visits to the doctor, and lower perceived general health at age 17. We discuss implications of findings for future empirical work.

Different theoretical contentions on gender differences in loneliness exist, often including the emergence of gender differences in particular developmental periods. To explain those ideas, the current meta–analysis synthesizes the available evidence on gender differences in loneliness across the lifespan. Three–level meta–analyses were conducted with 751 effect sizes, covering 399,798 individuals (45.56% males). Results showed a close–to–zero overall effect ( g = 0.07). Most examined moderators were non–significant, except for age, the scope of the sampling area, and year of publication. Most importantly, all effects were small, suggesting that across the lifespan mean levels of loneliness are similar for males and females.

Based on current theories of depression, reciprocal links between loneliness and depressive symptoms are expected to occur. However, longitudinal studies on adolescent samples are scarce and have yielded conflicting results. The present five-wave longitudinal study from mid- to late adolescence (N=428, M age at T1=15.22 years; 47% female) examined the direction of effect between loneliness and depressive symptoms, using cross-lagged path analysis. In addition, the robustness of these prospective associations was tested by examining the role of the Big Five personality traits (i.e., extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, and openness) as explaining factors and moderators. Results indicated that loneliness and depressive symptoms influenced one another reciprocally, and these reciprocal associations were not attributable to their mutual overlap with personality traits. In addition, neuroticism was found to be a moderator, in that the bidirectional effects between loneliness and depressive symptoms were only found in adolescents high in neuroticism. Practical implications are discussed, and suggestions for future research are outlined.

Although loneliness is a common problem across late adolescence, its developmental course has not been investigated in depth in this period of life. The present study aims to fill this gap by means of a five‐wave cohort‐sequential longitudinal study spanning ages 15 to 20 (N = 389). Both variable‐centered (i.e., latent growth curve modeling) and person‐centered (i.e., latent class growth analysis) approaches were used. Variable‐centered analyses showed that loneliness generally decreased over time. Person‐centered analyses pointed to considerable inter‐individual differences in the development of loneliness, and identified five trajectory classes (i.e., stable low, low increasing, moderate decreasing, high increasing, and chronically high). These five trajectory classes were differentially related to personality traits at age 15 (i.e., extraversion, agreeableness, and emotional stability) and psychosocial functioning at age 20 (i.e., depressive symptoms, self‐esteem, anxiety, and perceived stress). These findings underscore the additional value of studying subgroups regarding the development of loneliness.

The present study builds on the child-by-environment model and examines the joint contribution of intra-individual characteristics (i.e., self-esteem and shyness) and peer experiences (i.e., social acceptance, victimization, friendship quantity, and friendship quality) in the association with loneliness. A total of 884 adolescents (M age = 15.80; 68 percent female) participated in this multi-informant study. Results indicated that, in addition to self-esteem and shyness, being poorly accepted by peers, being victimized, lacking friends, and experiencing poor-quality friendships each contributed independently to the experience of loneliness. Further, friendship quantity and quality mediated the relation between the two intra-individual characteristics and loneliness. Finally, a significant interaction was found between selfesteem and social acceptance in predicting loneliness. The present study highlights the importance of investigating the joint effects of inter-individual experiences and intra-individual characteristics in examining loneliness. Suggestions to elaborate the child-by-environment model in loneliness research are discussed, and clinical implications are outlined.

Low self-esteem has been shown to relate to concurrent and later feelings of loneliness in adolescence. However, it remains unclear why low self-esteem puts adolescents at risk for experiencing loneliness. Further, longitudinal research on the direction of effects between loneliness and self-esteem is virtually non-existent. The present study aims to fill these gaps in the literature. First, the direction of effects between loneliness and self-esteem was investigated in two independent longitudinal studies: a five-wave study sampling Dutch adolescents (M age = 15.22 years at T1; 47 % female; N = 428) and a three-wave study sampling Belgian adolescents (M age = 14.95 years at T1; 63 % female; N = 882). Second, the underlying role of social acceptance was investigated in the latter sample by applying a multi-method approach that included actual (i.e., peer-reported) and perceived (i.e., self-reported) social acceptance. Results indicated that self-esteem and loneliness influenced one another in a reciprocal manner. Furthermore, the dominant path from self-esteem to loneliness was partially mediated by perceived--but not actual--social acceptance. The importance of distinguishing actual from perceived social acceptance is discussed, and suggestions for future research are outlined.

Many longitudinal studies have investigated whether self‐esteem predicts depressive symptoms (vulnerability model) or the other way around (scar model) in adolescents. The most common method of analysis has been the cross‐lagged panel model (CLPM). The CLPM does not separate between‐person effects from within‐person effects, making it unclear whether the results from previous studies actually reflect the within‐person effects or whether they reflect differences between people. We investigated the associations between self‐esteem and depressive symptoms at the within‐person level, using random intercept cross‐lagged panel models (RI‐CLPMs). To get an impression of the magnitude of possible differences between the RI‐CLPM and the CLPM, we compared the results of both models. We used data from three longitudinal adolescent samples (age range: 7–18 years; study 1: N = 1948; study 2: N = 1455; study 3: N = 316). Intervals between the measurements were 1–1.5 years. Single‐paper meta‐analyses showed support for small within‐person associations from self‐esteem to depressive symptoms, but not the other way around, thus only providing some support for the vulnerability model. The cross‐lagged associations in the aggregated RI‐CLPM and CLPM showed similar effect sizes. Overall, our results show that over 1‐ to 1.5‐year time intervals, low self‐esteem may negatively influence depressive symptoms over time within adolescents, but only weakly so. © 2018 The Authors. European Journal of Personality published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Association of Personality Psychology