Modeling multivariate associations with parental loneliness via perceived closeness and support

Abstract

Objectives: Recent research findings suggest the prevalence of loneliness is increasing in middle-aged adults parenting children, challenging the notion this demographic is typically at low risk of loneliness. Method: The current study applied the cognitive discrepancy model as theoretical foundation to investigate the variance of individual and situational variables contributing to perceived closeness and support and consequently loneliness. Structural equation modeling was employed to identify multivariate contributors associated with parental loneliness in 323 parents with an average age of 37.69 ( SD = 5.96) years. Results: Results support the theoretical proposition that individual factors, rather than situational, contribute to a greater variance of a perceived gap in relationship closeness and support. It was found that emotional competence, ability to forgive, emotional stability, extraversion, and lower mood levels are significant contributors to a small cognitive gap in perceived relationship closeness and protective against parental loneliness. Relationship status contributed a weak direct effect over perceived relationship closeness and support. Situational factors, including number of children and household income, were non-significant risks for loneliness. Overall, the model accounted for 65% of perceived relationship closeness and support and 85% of loneliness. The limitation of small number of male participants is discussed with regard to the existing research gap investigating male loneliness. Conclusion: A Pathway to Loneliness Risk Model is proposed, demonstrating that through increasing an individual’s intrapersonal and interpersonal resources and challenging negative cognitive biases and maladaptive schemas regarding an individual’s perception of their relationships, may lead to a reduction in the individual’s risk for loneliness.

Effects of mindful emotion regulation on parents’ loneliness and social support: A longitudinal study during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in the United States

“…The COVID-19 crisis facilitated an examination of the potential role of psychological resilience in bolstering perceptions of support in a particularly vulnerable group, caregivers of children. The disruption in social support networks posed unprecedented challenges for parents, for whom there are considerable consequences such as loneliness, lack of perceived support, and psychological distress (Hall et al, 2020; Poppert Cordts et al, 2020). Based on four waves of data following the outbreak of the pandemic, we found that parents’ MER was associated with decreased loneliness and increased perceived social support later in time.…”

Individual, family, and community factors related to loneliness in mothers raising children less than 3 years of age: a cross-sectional study

“…Several independent variables were explored as being factors that were potentially related to loneliness from an ecological systems model [ 14 ]. These variables were selected based on literature reviews of previous studies [ 4 – 9 , 15 – 21 ] and 3 focused group interviews with 41 professionals or community volunteers, and 31 one-to-one interviews with mothers raising children less than 3 years of age.…”

Interpersonal context and desired emotional closeness in neural response to negative visual stimuli: Preliminary findings

“…However, in contrast to desired emotional closeness, loneliness also captures psychological distress about having perceived difficulty obtaining social connection. Notably, whereas desired emotional closeness is negatively associated with depression and positively associated with perceived emotional closeness (Flores & Berenbaum, 2014), loneliness is positively related to depression (Cacioppo et al., 2006) and negatively associated with perceived emotional closeness (Hall et al., 2020). Desired emotional closeness may also demonstrate an opposite pattern in social circuitry (i.e., greater activation) in response to negative social images with relevance to adaptive functioning.…”