Hostname: page-component-669899f699-vbsjw Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-29T19:08:01.518Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Alone but not lonely: The concept of positive solitude

Commentary on “Let there be light: The moderating role of positive solitude in the relationship between loneliness and depressive symptoms” by Ost-Mor et al.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 November 2023

Sharon Shiovitz-Ezra*
Affiliation:
Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social Welfare, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
Ran Rozen
Affiliation:
Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social Welfare, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
Get access

Abstract

Image of the first page of this content. For PDF version, please use the ‘Save PDF’ preceeding this image.'
Type
Commentary
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of International Psychogeriatric Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Averill, J. R. and Sundararajan, L. (2014). Experiences of solitude issues of assessment, theory, and culture. In: Coplan, R. J. and Bowker, J. C. (Eds.), The handbook of solitude: Psychological perspectives on social isolation, social withdrawal, and being alone (pp 90108), Wiley Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118427378.Google Scholar
Ayalon, L. and Tesch-Römer, C. (Eds.) (2018). Contemporary Perspectives on Ageism. In: International Perspectives on Aging 19 (pp 564). Cham, Switzerland: Spring Open. https://doi:10.1007/978-3-319-73820-8.Google Scholar
Carstensen, L. L., Fung, H. H. and Charles, S. T. (2003). Socioemotional selectivity theory and the regulation of emotion in the second half of life. Motivation and Emotion, 27, 103123. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024569803230.Google Scholar
Charles, S. T. (2010). Strength and vulnerability integration: a model of emotional well-being across adulthood. Psychological Bulletin, 136, 10681091. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0021232.Google Scholar
Choi, E., Farina, M., Zhao, E. and Ailshire, J. (2023). Changes in social lives and loneliness during COVID-19 among older adults: a closer look at the sociodemographic differences. International Psychogeriatrics, 35, 305317. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1041610222001107.Google Scholar
Hawkley, L. C. and Cacioppo, J. T. (2010). Loneliness matters: a theoretical and empirical review of consequences and mechanisms. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 40, 218227.Google Scholar
Jeste, D. V., Lee, E. E. and Cacioppo, S. (2020). Battling the modern behavioral epidemic of loneliness: suggestions for research and interventions. JAMA Psychiatry, 77, 553554.Google Scholar
Korpela, K. and Staats, H. (2014). The restorative qualities of being alone with nature. In: Coplan, R. J. and Bowker, J. C. (Eds.), The handbook of solitude: Psychological perspectives on social isolation, social withdrawal, and being alone (pp 377385), Wiley Blackwell.Google Scholar
Larson, R. W. (1990). The solitary side of life: an examination of the time people spend alone from childhood to old age. Developmental Review, 10, 155183. https://doi.org/10.1016/0273-2297(90)90008-R.Google Scholar
Larson, R. W. (1997). The emergence of solitude as a constructive domain of experience in early adolescence. Child Development, 68, 8093. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.1997.tb01927.x.Google Scholar
Leigh-Hunt, N. et al. (2017). An overview of systematic reviews on the public health consequences of social isolation and loneliness. Public Health, 152, 157171.Google Scholar
Long, C. R. and Averill, J. R. (2003). Solitude: an exploration of benefits of being alone. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 33, 2144. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-5914.00204.Google Scholar
Nguyen, T. T., Ryan, R. M. and Deci, E. L. (2018). Solitude as an approach to affective self-regulation. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 44, 92106. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167217733073.Google Scholar
Ost Mor, S., Palgi, Y. and Segel-Karpas, D. (2020). The definition and categories of positive solitude: older and younger adults’ perspectives on spending time by themselves. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 93, 943962. https://doi.org/10.1177/0091415020957379.Google Scholar
Ost-Mor, S. et al. (2023). Let there be light: The moderating role of positive solitude in the relationship between loneliness and depressive symptoms. International Psychogeriatrics, 15. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1041610223000698 Google Scholar
Palgi, Y., Segel-Karpas, D., Ost Mor, S., Hoffman, Y., Shrira, A. and Bodner, E. (2021). Positive solitude scale: Theoretical background, development and validation. Journal of Happiness Studies, 22, 33573384. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-021-00367-4.Google Scholar
Pauly, T., Lay, J. C., Nater, U. M., Scott, S. B. and Hoppmann, C. A. (2017). How we experience being alone: age differences in affective and biological correlates of momentary solitude. Gerontology, 63, 5566. https://doi.org/10.1159/000450608.Google Scholar
Sonnega, A., Faul, J. D., Ofstedal, M. B., Langa, K. M., Phillips, J. W. R. and Weir, D. R. (2014). Cohort profile: the health and retirement study (HRS). International Journal of Epidemiology, 43, 576585. https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyu067.Google Scholar
Sutin, A., Luchetti, M., Aschwanden, D., Zhu, X., Stephan, Y. and Terracciano, A. (2023). Loneliness and risk of all-cause, alzheimer’s, vascular, and frontotemporal dementia: a prospective study of 492,322 individuals over 15 years. International Psychogeriatrics, 35, 283292. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1041610222001028.Google Scholar
Vaillant, G. E. (2002). Aging well: Surprising guideposts to a happier life from the landmark Harvard study of adult development. New York: Little, Brown Spark.Google Scholar
Winnicott, D. W. (1958). The capacity to be alone. The International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 39, 416420.Google Scholar