Prospective associations between loneliness and emotional intelligence

Loneliness Links Adverse Childhood Experiences to Mortality Risk Across 26 Years

OBJECTIVES

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with increased mortality risk. Individuals with a history of certain adversity during childhood tend to report higher levels of loneliness in later life. In our preregistered study, we examined whether loneliness mediates the ACEs to mortality risk relation.

METHODS

Participants were from the Midlife in the United States Survey (N = 4,963; M [SD] = 46.44 [12.52] years, 53.3% female). Follow-up period spanned 26 years. A comprehensive measure of ACEs was employed consisting of 20 ACEs from 5 categories: physical abuse, emotional abuse, socioeconomic disadvantage, adverse family structure, and poor health at age 16 years.

RESULTS

ACE was a significant predictor of mortality risk. Loneliness mediated the ACEs-mortality risk relation. In other words, loneliness in adulthood accounted for the relation between ACEs and future death. These effects withstood a range of sensitivity checks and adjustments for important factors, such as social isolation.

DISCUSSION

Loneliness appears to be a central mechanism in the long-term impact of ACEs on longevity, such that, for adversity during childhood, loneliness experienced during adulthood may be a toxic pathway to future death.

The Relationships Between Loneliness, Emotional Intelligence, and Depression Among Turkish Emerging Adults: A Moderated Moderation Model in the Gender Context

Loneliness is a common public health problem that can influence individuals' depression outcomes. The incidence of loneliness among emerging adults is high. From this perspective, this study would serve two primary aims in Turkish emerging adults. The first was to examine the moderating effect of emotional intelligence on the relationship between loneliness and depression. The second was to test whether gender moderated this moderating effect. The study sample consisted of 456 (213 females and 243 males) university-attending emerging adults, 18-25 years old. Firstly, the findings demonstrated that loneliness was positively associated with depression. Secondly, the results showed that emotional intelligence moderated the relationship between loneliness and depression, indicating that high emotional intelligence functioned as a buffer for the contribution of loneliness to depression. In contrast, higher levels of loneliness were significantly associated with a greater risk of depression among emerging adults with low or moderate emotional intelligence. Lastly, gender did not moderate the moderating effect of emotional intelligence on the relationship between loneliness and depression. This study concluded with limitations, recommendations for future research, and practical and theoretical implications for practitioners.

Adverse childhood experiences and loneliness: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Adverse childhood experiences are considered a powerful determinant of emotional health. One indicator of emotional health is loneliness, which refers to a distressing experience that one's social relationships are less in quality and quantity than those desired. This preregistered review aimed to examine the association between adverse childhood experiences (e.g., physical abuse/neglect, emotional abuse/neglect, sexual abuse, parental separation/divorce, family conflict, domestic violence) and loneliness in adulthood. A database search (Embase, Ovid, Cochrane Library, APA PsychINFO, Medline, Pubmed, Scopus) was conducted. After removal of duplicates, 3689 papers were reviewed and 20 met inclusion criteria. When feasible, results were pooled using a random-effects meta-analysis and inverse variance modelling and reported narratively. Meta-analyses revealed a statistically significant association between cumulative adverse childhood experiences and loneliness (r = 0.30, 95% CI [0.22-0.37]; prediction interval = 0.04-0.52) and between specific adversity types and loneliness, namely sexual abuse, physical abuse, physical neglect, emotional abuse, and emotional neglect. Some heterogeneity was observed across studies. Subgroup and sensitivity analyses revealed no differences in age, gender, age group, continent, or measures of adversity/loneliness. This research indicates that adversities in childhood may have some long-term influences on loneliness, both cumulatively and within adversity subtypes.

From sleeplessness to solitude: emotional repair as a buffer between insomnia and loneliness in university students

Loneliness and insomnia are endemic in college students, and emotion regulation is strongly related to both. Starting with a biopsychosocial framework, the present study tested a model in which emotional repair mediated the relationship between loneliness and insomnia, with the goal of using a potential mechanism of action to address loneliness. Participants were undergraduate students (N=1,513) in the United States who completed a survey including the Trait Meta-Mood Scale, Sleep Condition Indicator, and UCLA Loneliness Scale, amongst other measures. Insomnia had a significant total negative effect on loneliness, B = -0.46, 95% CI [-0.54, -0.39]. Emotional repair partially mediated this relationship, with an indirect effect of B = 0.015, 95% CI [-0.19, -0.12]. Participants with better sleep were more able to regulate their emotions, and thus tended to experience lower levels of loneliness. Treating insomnia (e.g., CBT-I) or skills associated with emotional repair and regulation (e.g., transdiagnostic approaches to emotion regulation) could reduce overall loneliness.

The Association Between Child Maltreatment and Loneliness Across the Lifespan: A Systematic Review and Multilevel Meta-Analysis

While there is evidence that child maltreatment is positively associated with loneliness, the strength of this association is not yet clear. It is also unclear whether the magnitude and statistical significance of this association varies across groups of individuals. Therefore, this meta-analysis examines whether there are differences in loneliness between individuals with and without maltreatment histories, and which factors may influence the association between child maltreatment and loneliness. A three-level meta-analysis was conducted on 52 studies reporting 116 effect sizes (N = 1,705,493; Mage = 30.93; 49.6% females). Results showed a medium overall effect (g = 0.45, p < .001, 95% CI [0.36, 0.53]), indicating that individuals with maltreatment histories, on average, feel lonelier than individuals without maltreatment histories. Moderator analyses showed that effect sizes were larger for emotional abuse and emotional neglect as compared to other types of child maltreatment and decreased when participants were older at the time of loneliness assessment. These findings suggest that individuals with maltreatment histories, especially those who have been emotionally abused and/or emotionally neglected, are vulnerable to experiencing loneliness across the lifespan. The results also suggest that feelings of loneliness warrant attention in prevention and intervention programs for individuals with maltreatment histories.

Social isolation and loneliness: Undervalued risk factors for disease states and mortality

Social isolation and loneliness are two common but undervalued conditions associated with a poor quality of life, decreased overall health and mortality. In this review, we aim to discuss the health consequences of social isolation and loneliness. We first provide the potential causes of these two conditions. Then, we explain the pathophysiological processes underlying the effects of social isolation and loneliness in disease states. Afterwards, we explain the important associations between these conditions and different non-communicable diseases, as well as the impact of social isolation and loneliness on health-related behaviours. Finally, we discuss the current and novel potential management strategies for these conditions. Healthcare professionals who attend to socially isolated and/or lonely patients should be fully competent in these conditions and assess their patients thoroughly to detect and properly understand the effects of isolation and loneliness. Patients should be offered education and treatment alternatives through shared decision-making. Future studies are needed to understand the underlying mechanisms better and to improve the treatment strategies for both social isolation and loneliness.

Relationship between alexithymia, loneliness, resilience and non-suicidal self-injury in adolescents with depression: a multi-center study

OBJECTIVE

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) behaviors are prevalent in adolescents and have adverse effects on physical and mental health. However, little is known about the relationship between NSSI and alexithymia, or the underlying mechanisms that could explain this relationship. This study aimed to elucidate the current status of NSSI in adolescent depression, and analyze the relationship between alexithymia, loneliness, resilience, and adolescent depression with NSSI, so as to provide a theoretical basis for psychotherapeutic interventions.

METHOD

The study sample involved inpatients and outpatients from 12 hospitals across China and adolescents with depression who met the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for depression episode. The following scales were used: The Functional Assessment of Self-Mutilation, Toronto Alexithymia Scale, UCLA Loneliness Scale, and Connor Davidson Resilience Scale.

RESULTS

The detection rate of NSSI in adolescents with depression from 2021.01.01-2022.01.01 was 76.06% (1782/2343). Spearman's correlation analysis revealed a significant correlation between alexithymia, loneliness, resilience and NSSI in depressed adolescents, and the results of the non-parametric test showed that the differences between the two groups for each factor were statistically significant. Binary logistic regression results showed that alexithymia (B = 0.023, p = 0.003, OR = 1.023, 95% CI: 1.008-1.038) and depression (B = 0.045, p < 0.001, OR = 1.046, 95% CI: 1.026-1.066) are risk factors for NSSI, resilience (B = - 0.052, p < 0.001, OR = 0.949, 95% CI: 0.935 - 0.964) is a protective factor for NSSI. Alexithymia directly predicted NSSI and also indirectly influenced NSSI through the mediated effect of resilience. Loneliness moderates the first half of the path of this mediated model.

CONCLUSION

The present study confirms a moderated mediation effect: Alexithymia can have an impact on NSSI behaviors in depressed adolescents through the mediating role of resilience. Loneliness, as a moderating variable, moderated the first half of the pathway of the mediating model. We discuss perspectives for future research and interventions based on the findings of the study.

Positive classroom climate buffers against increases in loneliness arising from shyness, rejection sensitivity and emotional reactivity

Loneliness is detrimental to well-being, particularly during the transition into and early years of adolescence when peer relations are ascendant. Shy and emotionally sensitive youth, who often spend considerable time alone, have known vulnerabilities to loneliness. Studies of young children suggest that a supportive classroom context may mitigate adjustment risks, reducing victimization and improving a sense of belonging. Herein we extend this work to older students, testing the hypothesis that a positive classroom climate protects temperamentally vulnerable children (i.e., those who are shy, emotionally reactive, or sensitive to rejection) from escalating levels of loneliness across the course of a school year. A community sample of 540 (277 boys, 263 girls) Lithuanian students in grades 5-7 (10-14 years old) completed identical surveys twice, 4-5 months apart. Self-reports assessed shyness, emotional reactivity, and rejection sensitivity, as well as perceived positive classroom climate and loneliness. Path analyses indicated that longitudinal associations from shyness, emotional reactivity, and rejection sensitivity to increased loneliness were mitigated by positive classroom climate. In each case, temperamental vulnerability anticipated greater loneliness for youth reporting low but not high positive classroom climate. The results held after accounting for several potential confounding variables. The findings have practical implications, suggesting that scholars and practitioners redouble efforts to improve classroom support, particularly for temperamentally vulnerable children who are at elevated risk for solitude, loneliness, and attendant mental health challenges.

Attached but Lonely: Emotional Intelligence as a Mediator and Moderator between Attachment Styles and Loneliness

(1) Background: The aim of the presented research was to examine if emotional intelligence (EI) could be regarded as a mechanism mediating the relationship between attachment and loneliness. The authors also tested the moderating role of this variable, investigating whether EI was a protective factor against loneliness in insecurely attached individuals. (2) Methods: In two cross-sectional studies (N = 246 in Study 1 and N = 186 in Study 2), participants completed a set of questionnaires measuring attachment styles, trait emotional intelligence, and loneliness. (3) Results: Both studies revealed a consistent pattern of results, indicating a dual role of EI in the relationships between attachment styles and loneliness. Firstly, EI was a mediator between attachment and loneliness-both anxious and avoidant attachment were associated with a low level of EI, which in turn translated into increased loneliness. Secondly, EI moderated the relationship between anxious attachment and loneliness. It turned out that the strength of the positive relationship between anxious attachment and loneliness decreased with an increase in EI. (4) Conclusions: These results point to EI as an underlying mechanism between insecure attachment and loneliness. They also suggest that EI is an important psychological resource protecting anxiously attached individuals against a subjective sense of social isolation.

Visual-stress-related cortical excitability as a prospective marker for symptoms of depression and anxiety in young people

Visual stress is thought to reflect cortical excitability and has been associated with many neurological, neuropsychiatric, and neurodevelopmental conditions. However, its relationships with symptoms of depression and anxiety have not yet been elucidated. We conducted two separate studies to first examine visual stress in a longitudinal community sample of 104 participants (aged 12-24) in association with prospective symptoms of depression, anxiety, and distress after 3 months, and subsequently in a cross-sectional epidemiological sample of 530 participants (aged 15-24) to validate its associations with current mood and distress symptoms. The Pattern Glare Test was used to examine visual stress to three grating patterns with the spatial frequencies (SF) of 0.3, 2.3, and 9.4 cycles per degree (cpd). Other known factors of mental health, including functioning, as well as resilience, hopelessness, and loneliness, were also assessed at baseline. In both studies, we showed that perceptual distortions were highest toward the pattern with mid-SF (2.3 cpd). Multiple linear regression analyses revealed that greater visual stress was significantly associated with not only baseline but also 3-month symptom outcomes, even when accounting for age, years of education, days of no functioning, resilience, hopelessness, and loneliness. Our findings suggest the importance of visual stress in understanding and predicting poor mental health outcomes. As mental health can lead to far-reaching consequences that extend to adulthood, our findings may inform state-of-the-art innovative strategies for the prediction of poor mental health outcomes and suggest visual stress as a potential marker for early risk detection among young people.

Long-term effects of a resilience-based intervention on mental health of children affected by parental HIV in China: Testing the mediation effects of emotion regulation and coping

Resilience-based interventions have been suggested to improve mental health among children affected by parental HIV. Very few studies, however, have explicitly tested the mechanisms of change underlying the effects of resilience-based interventions on mental health among this group of children. The present study utilized a cluster randomized controlled trial to determine the effects of the Child-Caregiver-Advocacy Resilience (ChildCARE) intervention on mental health for children affected by parental HIV. Specifically, we examined the effects of the intervention on three mental health outcomes (i.e., depressive symptoms, school anxiety, loneliness) and whether emotion regulation and coping played mediating roles in the intervention's effectiveness. Child-caregiver dyads (N = 790) were randomly assigned by clusters to three intervention groups and a control group. Children reported on mental health outcomes for 36 months at 6-month intervals. Latent growth curve models showed that there were no direct impacts of the ChildCARE intervention on changes in mental health outcomes beyond 18-month follow-up. Mediation analyses showed that the ChildCARE intervention yielded significant improvements in positive coping, but not negative coping or emotion regulation at 18 months. Emotion regulation, positive coping, and negative coping were consistently associated with the intercepts (i.e., mean at 18 months) of mental health outcomes. Negative coping also significantly predicted the rates of change of mental health outcomes over time. Findings provide important implications for future resilience-based intervention development and highlight the promise of interventions that aim to strengthen emotion regulation and coping skills to improve mental health for children affected by parental HIV.

Choking under pressure: Does it get easier with age? How loneliness affects social monitoring across the life span

Previous experimental work showed that young adults reporting loneliness performed less well on emotion recognition tasks (Diagnostic Analysis of Nonverbal Accuracy [DANVA-2]) if they were framed as indicators of social aptitude, but not when the same tasks were framed as indexing academic aptitude. Such findings suggested that undergraduates reporting loneliness possessed the social monitoring skills necessary to read the emotions underlying others’ facial expressions, but that they choked under social pressure. It has also been found that undergraduates reporting loneliness have better recall for both positive and negative social information than their non-lonely counterparts. Whether those effects are evident across different age groups has not been examined. Using data from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Loneliness Experiment that included participants aged 16–99 years (N = 54,060), we (i) test for replication in a larger worldwide sample and (ii) extend those linear model analyses to other age groups. We found only effects for participants aged 25–34 years: In this age group, loneliness was associated with increased recall of negative individual information, and with choking under social pressure during the emotion recognition task; those effects were small. We did not find any such effects among participants in other age groups. Our findings suggest that different cognitive processes may be associated with loneliness in different age groups, highlighting the importance of life-course approaches in this area.

Difficulties in Emotion Regulation and Cyberbullying Among Chinese Adolescents: A Mediation Model of Loneliness and Depression

Recent research has ascertained some risk factors for cyberbullying. However, few studies have investigated the potential influence of difficulties in emotion regulation (DER) on cyberbullying, and there is little knowledge about the mediating mechanisms underlying this association. This study investigated whether DER would be significantly related to adolescent cyberbullying and whether loneliness and depression would sequentially mediate the link between DER and adolescent cyberbullying. A sample of 719 Chinese middle school students completed measures regarding demographics, DER, loneliness, depression, and cyberbullying. After controlling for the demographic covariates, the results showed that (a) DER was positively associated with adolescent cyberbullying; (b) loneliness and depression sequentially mediated the relation between DER and adolescent cyberbullying. This study emphasizes the underlying mediating mechanisms between DER and adolescent cyberbullying, which is of great significance for the prevention and intervention of adolescent cyberbullying in the digital age.

Examining temporal interactions between loneliness and depressive symptoms and the mediating role of emotion regulation difficulties among UK residents during the COVID-19 lockdown: Longitudinal results from the COVID-19 psychological wellbeing study

BACKGROUND

Longitudinal studies examining the temporal association between mental health outcomes during the COVID-19 outbreak are needed. It is important to determine how relationships between key outcomes, specifically loneliness and depressive symptoms, manifest over a brief timeframe and in a pandemic context.

METHOD

Data was gathered over 4 months (March - June 2020) using an online survey with three repeated measures at monthly intervals (N = 1958; 69.8% females; Age 18-87 years, M = 37.01, SD = 12.81). Associations between loneliness, depression symptoms, and emotion regulation difficulty were tested using Pearson's product moment correlations, and descriptive statistics were calculated for all study variables. Cross-lagged structural equation modelling was used to examine the temporal relationships between variables.

RESULTS

The longitudinal association between loneliness and depressive symptoms was reciprocal. Loneliness predicted higher depressive symptoms one month later, and depressive symptoms predicted higher loneliness one month later. The relationship was not mediated by emotion regulation difficulties. Emotion regulation difficulties and depressive symptoms were also reciprocally related over time.

LIMITATIONS

Limitations include the reliance on self-report data and the non-representative sample. There was no pre-pandemic assessment limiting the conclusions that can be drawn regarding the mental health impact of the COVID-19 crisis.

CONCLUSIONS

Loneliness should be considered an important feature of case conceptualisation for depression during this time. Clinical efforts to improve mental health during the pandemic could focus on interventions that target either loneliness, depression, or both. Potential approaches include increasing physical activity or low-intensity cognitive therapies delivered remotely.

Low Self-Control: A Hidden Cause of Loneliness?

Loneliness has been associated with multiple negative outcomes. But what contributes to loneliness in the first place? Drawing from the literature on the importance of self-regulatory ability for successful social functioning, the present research explored the role of low self-control as a factor leading to loneliness. A set of four studies (and three additional studies in Supplementary Online Materials) using cross-sectional, experimental, daily diary, and experience sampling methods showed that lower self-control is associated with higher loneliness at both trait and state levels. Why does low self-control contribute to loneliness? Self-control failures that have negative implications for others lead to higher risks for being ostracized by others, which predicts increased feelings of loneliness over time. These results suggest that low self-control, which is often associated with negative intrapersonal outcomes, can have important interpersonal consequences by evoking ostracism, and consequently, loneliness.

Being unneeded in post-Soviet Russia: Lessons for an anthropology of loneliness

The problem of loneliness is receiving increasing attention in the popular media and among social scientists. Despite anthropology's rich engagement with emotions and experience, the anthropology of loneliness is still scant. In psychology, loneliness has been defined as relational lack. In this article, I reconsider one culturally specific form of relational lack-being unneeded among post-Soviet Muscovites. I draw on the anthropological literature on emotion, exchange, and morality to suggest that being unneeded is an ethical commentary on a lack of recognition. During Soviet times, recognition was secured through informal social exchange practices. Being unneeded among middle-aged and elderly post-Soviet Muscovites is therefore connected to a constricted ability to give and experience recognition. One avenue of analysis for an anthropology of loneliness is to consider social exchange practices and how these connect with societal and moral dimensions of loneliness.

Understanding loneliness in the twenty-first century: an update on correlates, risk factors, and potential solutions

PURPOSE

Loneliness is increasingly recognised as the next critical public health issue. A plausible reason for this concern may be related to emerging societal trends affecting the way we relate, communicate, and function in our social environment. In 2006, a prominent review of the clinical significance of loneliness was published. However, there has not been a comprehensive update on known and emerging risk factors and correlates of loneliness since then. Furthermore, there is no conceptual model that has been developed to better account for the complexity of loneliness and to inform the development of evidence-based solutions as we challenge the issues of the twenty-first century.

METHODS

We reviewed the current literature to identify either known or emerging risk factors and correlates of loneliness since 2006. This includes new or known evidence on: (1) demography; (2) health, including physical health; mental health; cognitive health; brain, biology, and genetics; and (3) socio-environmental factors including digital communication and the workplace.

RESULTS

We synthesized the literature according to a new proposed conceptual model of loneliness which showed the interplay between known and emerging correlates and risk factors from demography, health, to socio-environmental factors. In the conceptual model of loneliness, we illustrated how solutions can be delivered and tailored to an individual based on their life circumstances and preferences.

CONCLUSION

We concluded by making specific recommendations in advancing our scientific understanding of loneliness. Our knowledge can only be deepened if we increase scientific rigour via accounting for confounding variables and using longitudinal, multi-disciplinary, and multiple methodologies in research. We also call for the rigorous evaluation of programs targeting loneliness.

Negative Affect Shared with Siblings is Associated with Structural Brain Network Efficiency and Loneliness in Adolescents

Loneliness has a strong neurobiological basis reflected by its specific relationships with structural brain connectivity. Critically, affect traits are highly related to loneliness, which shows close association with the onset and severity of major depressive disorder. This diffusion imaging study was conducted on a sample of adolescent siblings to examine whether positive and negative affect traits were related to loneliness, with brain network efficiency playing a mediating role. The findings of this study confirmed that both global and average local efficiency negatively mediated the association between low positive affect and high negative affect and loneliness, and the mediation was more sensitive to sibling-shared affect traits. The findings have important implications for interventions targeted at reducing the detrimental impact of familiar negative emotional experiences and loneliness.

The Role of Emotional Intelligence in the Maintenance of Depression Symptoms and Loneliness Among Children

Identifying factors that predict the maintenance of depression and loneliness in children is important for intervention design. Whilst emotional intelligence (EI) has been identified as a predictor of mental health, research examining how both trait and ability EI contribute to long-term patterns of symptomatology in children is markedly absent. We examined the impact of both TEI and AEI on the maintenance of loneliness and depressive symptoms over 1 year in children aged 9-11 years. Two hundred and thirteen children (54% male) completed the TEIQue-CF and the MSCEIT-YV at the first time point of the study, and the Child Depression Inventory and the Loneliness and Aloneness Scale for Children and Adolescents at Time 1 and, again, 1 year later. Findings indicate that emotional skills (AEI) are important for predicting the maintenance of depressive symptoms and loneliness in children over 1 year; emotional self-competency (TEI) is less influential, only contributing to long-term loneliness in girls. Moreover, whilst deficiencies in the ability to perceive and understand emotions were predictive of prolonged symptomatology, so, too, were proficiencies in using emotion to facilitate thinking and emotion management. Those findings carry important implications for EI theory and future research. They also indicate that EI interventions tailored to groups of "at risk" school children may be useful for reducing specific profiles of internalizing symptoms. Programs targeting AEI skills may be universally helpful for reducing the likelihood that depressive symptoms and loneliness will be maintained over time in middle childhood; girls at risk for prolonged loneliness would additionally benefit from opportunities to bolster TEI.

What Leads to Loneliness? An Integrative Model of Social, Motivational, and Emotional Approaches in Adolescents

Loneliness has been linked to many physical and mental health problems, especially during adolescence. From evolutionary, social needs, and cognitive approaches, this study examined whether emotional repair, relatedness need, and peer-rated indicators of relations behave in predicting loneliness, considering all approaches together. The sample consisted of 373 adolescents measured longitudinally at three time points. Results of a cross-lagged panel design found that, considering all the influences together, relatedness need showed the highest strength to predict loneliness. Furthermore, adolescents who were accepted by their peers and whose relatedness need was satisfied activated emotional regulation which additionally produced a decrease in prospective feelings of loneliness. In addition, loneliness has been shown to be a consequence of these variables.

Neurobiological correlates of emotional intelligence in voice and face perception networks

Facial expressions and voice modulations are among the most important communicational signals to convey emotional information. The ability to correctly interpret this information is highly relevant for successful social interaction and represents an integral component of emotional competencies that have been conceptualized under the term emotional intelligence. Here, we investigated the relationship of emotional intelligence as measured with the Salovey-Caruso-Emotional-Intelligence-Test (MSCEIT) with cerebral voice and face processing using functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging. MSCEIT scores were positively correlated with increased voice-sensitivity and gray matter volume of the insula accompanied by voice-sensitivity enhanced connectivity between the insula and the temporal voice area, indicating generally increased salience of voices. Conversely, in the face processing system, higher MSCEIT scores were associated with decreased face-sensitivity and gray matter volume of the fusiform face area. Taken together, these findings point to an alteration in the balance of cerebral voice and face processing systems in the form of an attenuated face-vs-voice bias as one potential factor underpinning emotional intelligence.

The effect of loneliness on depression: A meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Negative emotions, which have a common, chronic and recurrent structure, play a vital role in the development and maintenance of psychopathology. In this study, loneliness as a negative emotion was considered to be a predisposing factor in depression.

AIM

The aim of this meta-analysis is to determine the effect of loneliness on depression.

METHOD

Initially, a literature scan was performed and all related literature was pooled together ( n = 531). Based on scales determined by the researchers, it was decided to include 88 studies in the analysis. This study obtained a sampling group of 40,068 individuals.

RESULTS

The results of using a random effects model for analysis showed that loneliness had a moderately significant effect on depression. None of the variables of study sampling group, type of publication and publication year were found to be moderator variables.

CONCLUSION

According to the results of the research, loneliness may be said to be a significant variable affecting depression. The findings obtained are discussed in light of the literature.

Trait and Ability Emotional Intelligence in Adolescents With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorder

Social-emotional impairments are considered core symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Although numerous interventions have been developed to remediate the social deficits in children with ASD, few have been designed to meet the needs of youth. Given research demonstrating relations between emotional intelligence (EI) and social outcomes in adults with Asperger Syndrome (AS), the current study examined both trait and ability EI to elucidate the nature of the EI strengths and impairments in youth with and without ASD. Twenty-five adolescents with ASD and 25 adolescents without ASD aged 13 to 17 years completed measures of ability and trait EI. Findings suggest that aspects of both trait and ability EI were significantly weaker in adolescents with ASD compared with typically developing adolescents. Implications, limitations, and future research are discussed.

Experiential Avoidance Mediates the Association between Emotion Regulation Abilities and Loneliness

Experiential avoidance (EA) involves the unwillingness to remain in contact with aversive experiences such as painful feelings, thoughts, and emotions. EA is often associated with the development and maintenance of emotional problems. Since loneliness is characterized by negative emotions such as sadness and pessimism, which is often linked to emotional problems, this study aims to test the mediating effects of EA on the relationship between emotion regulation abilities (ERA) and loneliness in a sample of Chinese adults. Five hundred undergraduates completed questionnaires measuring EA (Acceptance and Action Questionnaire; AAQ-Ⅱ), ERA (Failure-relate action orientation; Action Control Scale, ACS-90) and loneliness (UCLA Loneliness Scale). Structural equation modeling showed that EA fully-mediated the relationship between ERA and loneliness. The findings suggest EA is a key mechanism in explaining why people with high ERA are prone to feeling lower levels of loneliness. In particular, these findings have important implications for designing effective psychological interventions for loneliness.

Emotional Intelligence and Callous-Unemotional Traits in Incarcerated Adolescents

Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to perceive, manage, and reason about emotions and to use this information to guide thinking and behavior adaptively. Youth with callous-unemotional (CU) traits demonstrate a variety of affective deficits, including impairment in recognition of emotion and reduced emotional responsiveness to distress or pain in others. We examined the association between ability EI and CU traits in a sample of incarcerated adolescents (n = 141) using an expert-rater device (Psychopathy Checklist Youth Version (PCL-YV; Manual for the Hare psychopathy checklist: Youth version. Multi-Health Systems, Toronto, 2003) and self-report assessments of CU traits. EI was assessed using the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test-Youth Version, Research Version (MSCEIT-YV-R; MSCEIT YV: Mayer-Salovey-Caruso emotional intelligence test: Youth version, research version 1.0. Multi-Health Systems, Toronto, Ontario, 2005). Similar to findings in adult forensic populations, high levels of CU traits in incarcerated adolescents were associated with lower EI, particularly higher order EI skills. Identifying impairment on EI abilities may have important implications for emerging treatment and intervention developments for youth with high levels of CU traits.