Study Finds Loneliness Can Be Just As Contagious As Happiness

New York, December 01 2009 – Loneliness, like happiness, can be contagious, says research out today that shows how feeling lonely can make others lonely, too, a new US study has found.

The study, made by John Cacioppo, a psychologist at the University of Chicago, builds on recent research showing that happiness is contagious and spreads through social networks.

“When you feel lonely, you have more negative interactions than non-lonely people,” says Cacioppo, who directs the University of Chicago’s Center for Cognitive and Social Neuroscience. “If you’re in a more negative mood, you’re more likely to interact with someone else in a more negative way, and that person is more likely to interact in a negative way.”

The researchers found that next-door neighbours who experienced an increase of one day of loneliness a week prompted an increase in loneliness among neighbours who were close friends.
The study, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, also found that women were more likely than men to report “catching” loneliness and that the chances of becoming lonely were more likely to be caused by changes in their friendship networks rather than among family