Authenticity and rumination mediate the relationship between loneliness and well-being

Abstract

In recent years, plentiful data has emerged indicating the detrimental effects of loneliness on well-being. One of the challenges for researchers dealing with this issue is to find the mechanism underlying the relationship. The present study investigated 293 adults, aged 19-40, and examined whether authenticity and rumination functioned as mediators in the relationship between loneliness and well-being (and its three domainspleasure, engagement, and meaning). The results of the study confirmed the lonelinesswell-being link and, additionally, revealed potential mechanisms explaining this relationship, which were of different character in the cases of the particular domains of well-being. As it turned out, authenticity was the sole significant mediator in the relationship between loneliness and meaning, and rumination played the role of key mediator between loneliness and pleasure. Both these mediators had their share in the indirect effects of loneliness on engagement and overall well-being. The relations revealed between loneliness and authenticity are, in turn, congruent with recent conceptualizations of authenticity, which emphasize the interpersonal sources of this variable.

The Double Jeopardy of Feeling Lonely and Unimportant: State and Trait Loneliness and Feelings and Fears of Not Mattering

“…In turn, it is possible that those who are already lonely are predisposed to ruminating about these kinds of concerns. This finding is consistent with past research that has found that increased rumination is associated with greater loneliness (Gan et al, 2015;Borawski, 2019).…”

“…Given these observations, fear of not mattering to others may be another correlate of loneliness. Certainly past research has found that rumination is associated with greater loneliness among young adults (Gan et al, 2015;Borawski, 2019).…”

Loneliness and Psychological Distress: A Mediating Role of Meaning in Life during COVID-19 Pandemic

“…The present findings are also in line with earlier research outcomes regarding the association between loneliness and mental health and well-being [31,32]. More specifically, cross-sectional results from the context of current pandemic showed that loneliness is positively associated with negative indicators of mental health and negatively associated with positive indicators of mental health [19,20,33,34].…”

Personality, Cognition, and Adaptability to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Associations with Loneliness, Distress, and Positive and Negative Mood States

“…Our emphasis on this element reflects our sense that physical isolation during the pandemic has resulted in many people having overwhelming feelings of anxiety that may have resulted in a cognitive preoccupation to the point that some people can no longer stand the thought of being lonely for any significant stretch of time. Moreover, from a social science perspective, while there has not been, to our knowledge, any research thus far on lonelinessrelated automatic thoughts, there have been several studies that have linked loneliness with the ruminative brooding that is known to prolong and exacerbate depression (e.g., Borawski 2019;Vanhalst et al 2012;Zawadzki et al 2013). The notion that there is a cognitive element to loneliness that remains to be addressed represents a potentially important extension of the loneliness construct.…”