Meaning in Life : A Major Predictive Factor for Loneliness Comparable to Health Status and Social Connectedness
Macià Bros, Dídac (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Neurociències)
Cattaneo, Gabriele (Institut Germans Trias i Pujol. Institut Guttmann)
Solana, Javier (Institut Germans Trias i Pujol. Institut Guttmann)
Tormos, José Maria (Institut Germans Trias i Pujol. Institut Guttmann)
Pascual Leone, Álvaro (Institut Germans Trias i Pujol. Institut Guttmann)
Bartrés-Faz, David (Institut Germans Trias i Pujol. Institut Guttmann)

Data:	2021
Resum:	Objective: Loneliness is the subjective distress of feeling alone and has a strong impact on wellbeing and health. In addition to well-known predictors like isolation and poor health, a better understanding of the psychological determinants of loneliness would offer effective targets for future complementary interventions. Methods: In this cross-sectional observational study (N = 2,240), we compared the explanatory power of several important risk factors of loneliness with the affective, motivational, and cognitive aspects of the Meaning in Life (MiL) construct. Different nested linear models were compared including socio-demographic, lifestyles, social-connectedness, and self-rated health variables, to assess the overlapping and non-overlapping explanatory power of each of them. Results: Health status and MiL were found to be the most important predictors of loneliness, followed by social connectedness and, with a much lower weight, lifestyles, and socio-demographic factors. Within the MiL factor, the most cognitive component, sense of coherence, had a greater explanatory power than the more affective and motivational ones. Conclusion: Reduced MiL, the capacity of an individual to attach "value and significance" to life, is a crucial predictor to the feeling of loneliness. These results suggest that programs aiming to combat loneliness should go well beyond situational interventions and include more cognitive, value-centered interventions that enable individuals to define and pursue a meaningful vital plan.
Ajuts:	Agencia Estatal de Investigación RTI2018-095181-B-C21
Nota:	Altres ajuts: Fundació La Marató de TV3 (201735.10)
Drets:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Llengua:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Matèria:	Loneliness ; Meaning in life ; Sense of coherence ; Mental health ; Social isolation
Publicat a:	Frontiers in psychology, Vol. 12 (february 2021) , ISSN 1664-1078

DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.627547
PMID: 33716892

12 p, 1.1 MB

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Documents de recerca > Documents dels grups de recerca de la UAB > Centres i grups de recerca (producció científica) > Ciències de la salut i biociències > Institut d'Investigació en Ciencies de la Salut Germans Trias i Pujol (IGTP)
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