Study Shows Loneliness Spreads Farther Than You Think

Another reason to teach social skills to children

Dec 09, 2009
bubble 2 comments
Submitted by: Paula Schwed

 LIke a bad cold, loneliness can spread among groups of people, according to some fascinating new research. A study published in The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology reported that a person's loneliness depends not just on whether his friend is also lonely but on his friend's friend, and his friend's friend's friend! It's a valuable reminder that establishing and maintaining healthy and rewarding relationships pays off not just for the individual but for everyone he knows!

Related topics: teaching social skills to children, what is emotional intelligence for children

 Attitude are Contagious

On December 12th, 2009 Will Thompson says:

 Like I often tell my kids, attitudes are contagious.  A negative attitude or interaction can easily lead to other negative situations.  At WINGS, we have taught the kids to brainstorm alternate responses to negative situations.  They predict their consequences in order to help choose the best response.  I have seen it a million times, situations where a child has a rough day in school and comes to WINGS continuing to be upset and angry about what happened at recess or they don't get the grade they wanted on a spelling test.  I enjoy reminding them that at any point they can make the choice to turn their attitude and behavior around.  Don't let one part of your day ruin the rest of it.  As the WINGS Creed states, "life's full of surprises that make me feel different ways.  If I can control myself, I'll have much better days."  We all like to have positive experiences, so strive to keep a positive energy that will be contagious enough to build lasting relationships and friendships, even when negative situations arise.  Spread that!

All the more reason

On December 10th, 2009 Bridget Laird says:

This is a great example of why it is important to "learn more about everyone you meet."

It was interesting to me that the study found that "loneliness is not a character trait as in 'that person is such a loner'. A few weeks back we spent a whole week discussing character traits with our kids. They understand what a character trait is and how to differentiate character traits from emotions and other things.

Sounds like people that are "loners," are just not building healthy relationships. Hopefully our kids will not be spreading loneliness because they are gaining valuable relationship skills right now.

Being lonely can feel very sad and depressing. It is nice to think the social and emotional skills we teach now may help people down the road not feel so lonely.