Seeking more solitude: Conceptualization, assessment, and implications of aloneliness

Coplan, Robert J.; Hipson, Will E.; Archbell, Kristen A.; Ooi, Laura L.; Baldwin, Danielle; Bowker, Julie C.

doi:10.1016/j.paid.2019.05.020

Cited by 78 publications

(107 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…The vast literature has primarily focused on the negative experiences of being alone (e.g., loneliness; Coplan et al, 2019 ). Only a few researchers have investigated solitude from a more neutral perspective, providing evidence that solitude could be welcome and enjoyable at times (e.g., Coplan et al, 2019 ; Nguyen et al, 2018 ). Despite the growing interest in this topic, when people voluntarily choose to be alone remains poorly understood.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seeking Solitude After Being Ostracized: A Replication and Beyond

Ren

Wesselmann

Beest

2020

Pers Soc Psychol Bull

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Individuals may respond to ostracism by either behaving prosocially or antisocially. A recent paper provides evidence for a third response: solitude seeking, suggesting that ostracized individuals may ironically engage in self-perpetuating behaviors which exacerbate social isolation. To examine this counterintuitive response to ostracism, we conceptually replicated the original paper in three studies ( N = 1,118). Ostracism experiences were associated with preference for solitude across four samples (Study 1), and being ostracized increased participants’ desires for solitude (Studies 2 and 3). Extending beyond the original paper, we demonstrated that only the experience of being ostracized, but not ostracizing others or the feeling of conspicuousness, triggered the desire for solitude. Diverging from the original paper, trait extraversion did not moderate the effect of ostracism on solitude desires. Taken together, the current research provides additional and stronger empirical evidence that solitude seeking is a common response to ostracism.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seeking Solitude After Being Ostracized: A Replication and Beyond

Ren

Wesselmann

Beest

2020

Pers Soc Psychol Bull

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“…At the same time, it is important to recognize that the experience of solitude can be sought-after, and that this itself can provide a motivation of substance use. Recent theorisation of solitude has challenged its inevitable characterization as pathological ( 13 ), highlighting the importance of time spent alone for well-being ( 14 , 15 ). Moreover, collective desire for solitude can itself be a source of shared experience ( 16 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Isolation, Solitude and Social Distancing for People Who Use Drugs: An Ethnographic Perspective

et al. 2021

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COVID-19 has resulted in deepened states of crisis and vulnerability for people who use drugs throughout Europe and across the world, with social distancing measures having far-reaching implications for everyday life. Prolonged periods of isolation and solitude are acknowledged within much addiction literature as negatively impacting the experiences of those in recovery, while also causing harm to active users – many of whom depend on social contact for the purchasing and taking of substances, as well as myriad forms of support. Solitude, however, is proposed by the authors as inherent within some aspects of substance use, far from particular to the current pandemic. Certain forms of substance use engender solitary experience, even where use is predicated upon the presence of others. Adopting a cross-disciplinary perspective, this paper takes as its focus the urgent changes wrought by the pandemic upon everyday life for people who use drugs, drawing on recent ethnographic fieldwork with substance users in Scotland. Beyond the current crises, the paper proposes solitude, and by extension isolation, as an analytical framework for better apprehending lived experiences of substance use.

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“…In fact, sometimes people actively seek solitude (Burger, 1995;Ren et al, 2016), experience some activities (e.g., wilderness) as more enjoyable in solitude (Long & Averill, 2003), and use solitude as a way to relax and regulate emotions (Lay et al, 2019;Nguyen et al, 2018). Not spending enough time in solitude has been linked with diminished well-being (Coplan et al, 2019). As time is a limited resource, frequent contact with others is likely to deprive one from the valuable moments of solitude.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Is More Always Better? Examining the Nonlinear Association of Social Contact Frequency With Physical Health and Longevity

Stavrova

Ren

2020

Social Psychological and Personality Science

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Frequent social contact has been associated with better health and longer life. It remains unclear though whether there is an optimal contact frequency, beyond which contact is no longer positively associated with health and longevity. The present research explored this question by examining nonlinear associations of social contact frequency with health and longevity. Study 1 ( N ∼ 350,000) demonstrated that once the frequency of social contact reached a moderate level (monthly or weekly), its positive association with health flattened out. Study 2 ( N ∼ 50,000) extended these findings to longitudinal and mortality data: Although low contact frequency was associated with poor health and low survival rates, increasing the frequency of social interactions beyond a moderate level (monthly or weekly) was no longer associated with better health and longevity and, in some cases, was even related to worse health and increased mortality risks.

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Seeking more solitude: Conceptualization, assessment, and implications of aloneliness

Cited by 78 publications

References 56 publications

Seeking Solitude After Being Ostracized: A Replication and Beyond

Seeking Solitude After Being Ostracized: A Replication and Beyond

Isolation, Solitude and Social Distancing for People Who Use Drugs: An Ethnographic Perspective

Is More Always Better? Examining the Nonlinear Association of Social Contact Frequency With Physical Health and Longevity

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