Loneliness spreads like a disease, claim scientists

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People who feel lonesome can spread that feeling to others " like a cold " , claim

scientists.

http://tinyurl.com/yd39axo

By Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent

Published: 8:00AM GMT 01 Dec 2009

 

Researchers from Chicago, Harvard and California University have discovered that

lonely people tend to spread their outlook on life to others and that over time

the whole group of lonely, disconnected people move to the fringes of society.

 

The researchers also said that before certain relationships are severed, people

on the periphery of society transmit feelings of loneliness to their remaining

friends, who also then become lonely.

 

The mechanism seems to work because lonely people have less interactions with

others and this in itself leads to the others feeling the same.

 

Dr John Cacioppo, head researcher from the department of psychology at Chicago

University, said: " We detected an extraordinary pattern of contagion that leads

people to be moved to the edge of the social network when they become lonely.

 

" On the periphery people have fewer friends, yet their loneliness leads them to

losing the few ties they have left.

 

" These reinforcing effects mean that our social fabric can fray at the edges,

like a yarn that comes loose at the end of a crocheted sweater.

 

" Because loneliness is associated with a variety of mental and physical diseases

that can shorten life it is important for people to recognize loneliness and

help those people connect with their social group before the lonely individuals

move to the edges. "

 

For the study the team examined records of about 5,000 people who lived in the

Farmingham area of Massachusetts.

 

The team made graphs that charted the subjects' friendship histories and

information about their reports of loneliness, and so were able to establish a

pattern of loneliness that spread as people reported fewer close friends.

 

The data showed that lonely people " infected " the people around them with

loneliness, and those people moved to the edges of social circles.

 

The team also found that the next-door neighbours in the survey who experienced

an increase of one day of loneliness a week prompted an increase in loneliness

among their neighbours who were their close friends.

 

The loneliness spread as the neighbours spent less time together.

 

It was reported too that women, who are said to be more likely to need emotional

support, were also more likely to report 'catching' loneliness from others than

were men.

 

And that people's chances of becoming lonely were more likely to be caused by

changes in friendship networks than changes in family networks.

 

Dr Cacioppo continued: " Our research also shows that as people become lonely,

they become less trustful of others, and a cycle develops that makes it harder

for them to form friendships.

 

The findings are published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.