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      Loneliness as a Biographical Disruption—Theoretical Implications for Understanding Changes in Loneliness

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          Abstract

          Objectives

          While a great deal is known about the risk factors that increase vulnerability to loneliness in later life, little research has explored stability and change in levels of loneliness.

          Methods

          Narrative interviews were conducted with 11 participants who were identified as being lonely during Wave 1 of the Maintaining Function and Well-being in Later Life Study Wales (CFAS Wales). The interviews were used to explore stability and change in levels of loneliness from the perspective of older people themselves. The interviews focused on participant’s perspectives of the events that triggered loneliness, stability, and change in levels of loneliness over time as well as participant’s responses to loneliness.

          Results

          The findings show that participants experienced losses and loneliness as biographical disruption. How participants and their wider social network responded to these losses had implications for the individual’s trajectory through loneliness.

          Discussion

          Drawing on a biographical lens, the study reframed the events that triggered loneliness as disruptive events. This article discusses the utility of biographical disruption in understanding stability and change in loneliness. The findings suggest how drawing on valued identities may help lonely adults transition out of loneliness.

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          Most cited references42

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          Loneliness matters: a theoretical and empirical review of consequences and mechanisms.

          As a social species, humans rely on a safe, secure social surround to survive and thrive. Perceptions of social isolation, or loneliness, increase vigilance for threat and heighten feelings of vulnerability while also raising the desire to reconnect. Implicit hypervigilance for social threat alters psychological processes that influence physiological functioning, diminish sleep quality, and increase morbidity and mortality. The purpose of this paper is to review the features and consequences of loneliness within a comprehensive theoretical framework that informs interventions to reduce loneliness. We review physical and mental health consequences of loneliness, mechanisms for its effects, and effectiveness of extant interventions. Features of a loneliness regulatory loop are employed to explain cognitive, behavioral, and physiological consequences of loneliness and to discuss interventions to reduce loneliness. Loneliness is not simply being alone. Interventions to reduce loneliness and its health consequences may need to take into account its attentional, confirmatory, and memorial biases as well as its social and behavioral effects.
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            A review of loneliness: concept and definitions, determinants and consequences

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              • Article: not found

              Chronic illness as biographical disruption.

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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Role: Decision Editor
                Journal
                J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci
                J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci
                geronb
                The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences
                Oxford University Press (US )
                1079-5014
                1758-5368
                November 2020
                16 July 2020
                16 July 2020
                : 75
                : 9
                : 2029-2039
                Affiliations
                [1 ] Centre for Innovative Ageing, College of Human and Health Sciences, Swansea University , UK
                [2 ] School of Nursing, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland , New Zealand
                Author notes
                Address correspondence to: Deborah J. Morgan, PhD, Centre for Innovative Ageing, College of Human and Health Sciences, Swansea University, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK. E-mail: d.j.morgan@ 123456swansea.ac.uk
                Author information
                http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3107-3945
                http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6789-127X
                Article
                gbaa097
                10.1093/geronb/gbaa097
                7566959
                32812040
                c6afa8b2-e415-404c-8b5d-e0abf36964c5
                © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America.

                This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.com

                History
                : 20 December 2019
                : 27 June 2020
                : 19 August 2020
                Page count
                Pages: 11
                Funding
                Funded by: Economic and Social Research Council, DOI 10.13039/501100000269;
                Award ID: ES/I900993/1
                Award ID: RES-060-25-0060
                Funded by: Higher Education Funding Council Wales;
                Categories
                The Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences
                Social Integration and Isolation
                AcademicSubjects/SOC02600
                AcademicSubjects/SCI02100

                Geriatric medicine
                biography,identity,loneliness,narrative,transitions
                Geriatric medicine
                biography, identity, loneliness, narrative, transitions

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