Loneliness in the Daily Lives of Young Adults: Testing A Socio–Cognitive Model

2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eeske van Roekel ◽  
Thao Ha ◽  
Ron H. J. Scholte ◽  
Rutger C. M. E. Engels ◽  
Maaike Verhagen

A socio–cognitive model of loneliness states that lonely people are characterized by two characteristics, hypersensitivity to social threat and hyposensitivity to social reward. However, these characteristics have not yet been examined in the daily lives of young adults. Therefore, the main aim of the present study was to examine these two characteristics in young adults and whether relationship status, living situation, and type of company moderated the relationship between sensitivity to threat and reward and feelings of loneliness. The Experience Sampling Method was used, and data were collected among 219 first–year college students (M age = 19.60, 91% female). Participants filled out questionnaires on their smartphone at five random time points per day, on 11 consecutive days. Multilevel analyses showed support for hypersensitivity to social threat, in that students high in loneliness were more negatively affected by negative perceptions of company. Results for hyposensitivity to social reward were in the opposite direction; students high in loneliness were more positively affected by positive perceptions of company than students low in loneliness. These relations were not moderated by relationship status or living situation. Our findings may indicate that loneliness serves as a motivational state that increases susceptibility to the environment in order to restore social relationships. Copyright © 2015 European Association of Personality Psychology

2011 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 93-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aline Teixeira Fabricio ◽  
Mônica Sanches Yassuda

Abstract Memory plays a fundamental role in the identity of people and in human life, as it enables us to interpret our surroundings and make decisions. It is known that the aging process can be accompanied by cognitive decline in some memory sub systems. However, the use of memory strategies can help encoding and retrieval of new information. Objective: The aim of this study was to identify and compare, using objective and subjective measures, which recall strategies are used spontaneously by young and older adults. Methods: Twenty-six first-year college students, and thirty-three seniors enrolled at the Third Age University of the same campus, completed a visual memory test including 18 black and white pictures, memorized a short story, and completed an open question about memory strategies, a memory check list to indicate strategies used, and a memory self-efficacy scale. The Bousfield categorization measure was also calculated from the recall protocol. Results: Young adults demonstrated better performance than the older adults on the memory tasks, and were also more confident. Both groups reported using similar strategies. Conclusion: Young and older adults seem to tackle memory tasks in similar ways but young adults outperform seniors.


2003 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 133-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chien-Ming Yang ◽  
Chih-Hsing Wu ◽  
Ming-Hui Hsieh ◽  
Ming-Hsiung Liu ◽  
Feng-Hwa Lu

Author(s):  
Katherine L Fiori ◽  
Jessica Buthmann ◽  
Christy A Denckla

Crying is an attachment behavior that functions to elicit support from others (Nelson, 1998); the context in which the crying occurs is important in understanding whether it is adaptive or maladaptive (Hendriks & Vingerhoets, 2006). However, very little research has examined whether and how attachment style is associated with adult crying, and if this association might vary by an individual’s relationship status. Using a sample of 305 first-year college students and a series of hierarchical regressions, we examined the moderating effect of relationship status on the associations between attachment style (measured using the Revised Experiences in Close Relationships Scale; Fraley, Waller, & Brennan, 2000) and crying frequency and tendency. We found that attachment anxiety was positively associated with both crying frequency and tendency, whereas attachment avoidance was negatively associated with crying tendency. However, we found moderation effects only in the case of attachment avoidance; specifically, we found that attachment avoidance was associated with a lower frequency of crying and tendency to cry only for those individuals involved in romantic relationships. Attachment anxiety, on the other hand, was associated with greater crying frequency and tendency regardless of relationship status. These results demonstrate not only that crying may act as an attachment behavior, but also that the activation or deactivation of this particular attachment behavior may be dependent on the existence of a romantic attachment figure.


Crisis ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (6) ◽  
pp. 416-423 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Shadick ◽  
Faedra Backus Dagirmanjian ◽  
Baptiste Barbot

Abstract. Background: Research on young adults in the general population has identified a relationship between sexual minority identification and risk for suicide. Differential rates of suicidal ideation and attempts have also been found across racial and ethnic groups. Aims: This study examined risk for suicide among university students, based on membership in one or more marginalized groups (sexual minority and racial minority identification). Method: Data were collected from first-year college students (N = 4,345) at an urban university. Structural equation modeling was employed to model a suicidality construct, based on which a "risk for suicide" category system was derived. Chi-square and logistic regression analyses were then conducted to estimate the relationship between the background variables of interest and suicide risk. Results: Students who identified as lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) were associated with higher suicide risk than their heterosexual peers. Students of color were slightly less at risk than their heterosexual peers. However, LGB students of color were associated with elevated suicide risk relative to heterosexual peers. Conclusion: Results indicate that belonging to multiple marginalized groups may increase one's risk for suicide, though these effects are not simply additive. Findings highlight the complexity of the intersection between marginalized identities and suicidality.


2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tracey L. Rocha ◽  
M. Dolores Cimini ◽  
Angelina X. Diaz-Myers ◽  
Matthew P. Martens ◽  
Estela M. Rivero ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terrell A Hicks ◽  
Daniel Bustamante ◽  
Kaitlin E Bountress ◽  
Amy Adkins ◽  
Dace S Svikis ◽  
...  

Objective: To examine the prevalence and correlates of lifetime cannabis use (i.e., experimental [use 1-5 times] and non-experimental [use ≥ 6 times]) in relation to demographics, interpersonal trauma (IPT), and alcohol and nicotine use.Participants: A large (n = 9,889) representative sample of college students at an urban college campus in the southeastern part of the United States.Methods: Participants were 4 cohorts of first-year college students who completed measures of demographic variables, cannabis, alcohol, nicotine, and IPT. Associations were estimated using multinomial logistic regressions.Results: The prevalence of lifetime cannabis use was 45.5%. Specifically, 28.1% reported non-experimental cannabis use and 17.4% reported experimental cannabis use. Race, cohort, nicotine, and IPT were associated with experimental and non-experimental cannabis use. Additionally, alcohol and sex were associated with non-experimental cannabis use.Conclusions: Results show that cannabis use is prevalent among college students and is associated with race, IPT, and other substance use.


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