When the Need to Belong Goes Wrong

Abstract

People possess an innate need to belong that drives social interactions. Aberrations in the need to belong, such as social anhedonia and social anxiety, provide a point of entry for examining this need. The current study used experience-sampling methodology to explore deviations in the need to belong in the daily lives of 245 undergraduates. Eight times daily for a week, personal digital assistants signaled subjects to complete questionnaires regarding affect, thoughts, and behaviors. As predicted, higher levels of social anhedonia were associated with increased time alone, greater preference for solitude, and lower positive affect. Higher social anxiety, in contrast, was associated with higher negative affect and was not associated with increased time alone. Furthermore, greater social anxiety was associated with greater self-consciousness and preference to be alone while interacting with unfamiliar people. Thus, deviations in the need to belong affect social functioning differently depending on whether this need is absent or thwarted.

Out of the frying pan, into the fire: Mixed affective reactions to social proximity in borderline and avoidant personality disorders in daily life.

“…In line with our hypotheses and with the literature on the ambivalent response to social proximity in both BPD (Stepp et al, 2009; Stiglmayr et al, 2005) and social anxiety disorder (that is highly comorbid with APD; Brown et al, 2007; Russell et al, 2011), we found participants with BPD or APD to display mixed affective reactions to social proximity: Some moods improved; other got worse. This ambivalent pattern stood in contrast to more uniformly positive reactions found among HCs when in social proximity.…”

“…Similarly, in a daily diary study of undergraduates, SAD symptoms were associated with greater self-consciousness and a preference to being alone when interacting with unfamiliar (but not familiar) people (Brown et al, 2007). Taken together, these studies suggest that social interactions elicit ambivalent reactions in those with SAD, who experience social interactions as more aversive, but also as more desirable, than non-SAD individuals, at least under some conditions (e.g., Brown et al, 2007; Kashdan & Collins, 2010; Russell et al, 2011). It is likely that those with APD show a similar pattern of responses.…”

“…Higher social anxiety levels were found to be associated with avoidance of social interactions in a virtual reality environment (Rink et al, 2010), and less enjoyment of social situations (Brown, Silvia, Myin-Germeys, & Kwapil, 2007; Kashdan, Weeks, & Savostyanova, 2011). After social exclusion, individuals with fear of negative evaluation (a main characteristic in both SAD and APD) were less likely to attempt reconnecting with others (Maner, DeWall, Baumaister, & Schaller, 2007).…”

Sense of Belonging and Hope in the Lives of Persons with Schizophrenia

“…Having a positive sense of belonging has been found to enhance interpersonal, professional and academic success, improve self-concept, to be a protective factor for suicide and overall to be vital to psychological functioning (Brown, Silvia, Myin-Germeys, & Kwapil, 2007; Drolet, Arcand, Ducharme, & Leblanc, 2013; Hagerty, Williams, Coyne, & Early, 1996; Kissane & McLaren, 2006). The data underscore that meaningful connections and presence of others in the lives of persons with schizophrenia can impact well-being and mental health.…”

Computerized ambulatory monitoring in psychiatry: a multi‐site collaborative study of acceptability, compliance, and reactivity

“…Ambulatory monitoring techniques such as the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) or Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) have been increasingly applied over the last decade to study of a range of psychiatric disorders, including mood disorders (Myin-Germeys et al, 2003;Peeters et al, 2006), psychosis (Delespaul et al, 2002;deVries and Delespaul, 1989;Granholm et al, 2007;Kimhy et al, 2006;Myin-Germeys et al, 2001, personality disorders (Ebner-Priember et al, 2006;Farmer et al, 2004;Loewenstein et al, 1987;Stein, 1996), eating disorders (Hilbert and Tuschen-Caffi er, 2007;Smyth et al, 2007;Stein and Corte, 2003), social anxiety (Brown et al, 2007;Kashdan and Steger, 2006;Lee et al, 2006) and substance use (Cooney et al, 2007;Freedman et al, 2006;Hopper et al, 2006;Krahn et al, 2005;Lukasiewicz et al, 2005;Swendsen et al, 2000). A principal advantage of this approach is that it allows researchers to assess symptom expression in a manner that is often inaccessible to standard hospital or laboratory protocols, and to model complex within-person processes over time.…”