Loneliness is a common but distressing psychological state in which actual
levels of social contact fall below desired levels of contact. Loneliness is a stressful
experience that motivates affiliation as a form of redress. However, when people are
unsuccessful at forming the social connections that reduce loneliness, well-being and
quality of life can suffer dramatically. For some people loneliness may stem from
family of origin processes such as social learning or heritability. Loneliness is even
possible in the context of romantic or marital relationships when the relationship
exhibits markers of poor quality. In either context the lack of social integration puts
lonely people at risk for a range of negative outcomes. In the domain of health related
quality of life, loneliness has been conceptualized as a pathway to disease. Abundant
research evidence indicates that loneliness represents a risk for poor cardiovascular
fitness, poor immune functioning, psychological and physical health complications
associated with cancer, chronic illness, and all-cause mortality. Numerous theoretical
mechanisms have been posited to explain the relationship between loneliness and poor
health including stress processes, degraded recuperative processes, and compromised
health behaviors. Although study of the potential causal mechanisms by which
loneliness may contribute to the development of health problems is still in its infancy,
current research indicates that loneliness is best conceptualized as a psychological
construct that, when chronic, has a serious potential for pathophysiological effects on
the human body.
Keywords: Cancer, Cardiovascular health, Chronic illness, Family, Health,
Immune fitness, Loneliness, Mortality, Romantic relationships, Social motives, Stress.
