This article relates loneliness to interaction ritual theory, understanding loneliness in terms of problematic microinteractional dynamics. The advantage of interaction ritual theory is that it extends our understanding of the issue of the psychologised self and related questions such as how loneliness feels or is experienced. Loneliness is here defined as a response to interaction representing relational understanding of emotions. Interaction ritual theory is interested in the emotional consequences that individuals experience from successful or unsuccessful interaction rituals. Loneliness in this view represents a state in which the individual is denied access to rewarding aspects of interaction. This study is based on 32 lifecourse interviews with Finnish students. It finds that loneliness as a failed microinteractional dynamic originates from students’ previous negative experiences of interaction, problematic situational settings and the structured flow of students’ daily activities.
Baker, R.W. and Siryk, B. (1986) Exploratory intervention with scale measuring adjusting to college, Journal of Counselling Psychology, 33(1): 31–8. doi: 10.1037/0022-0167.33.1.31
Bellocchi, A., Mills, K.A. and Ritchie, S.M. (2016) Emotional experiences of preservice science teachers in online learning: the formation, disruption and maintenance of social bonds, Cultural Studies of Science Education, 11(3): 629–52. doi: 10.1007/s11422-015-9673-9
Braun, V. and Clarke, V. (2006) Using thematic analysis in psychology, Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2): 77–101. doi: 10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
Burkitt, I. (2002) Complex emotions: relations, feelings and images in emotional experience, Sociological Review, 50(52): 151–67. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-954X.2002.tb03596.x
Caspi, A., Harrington, H., Moffitt, T.E., Milne, B.J. and Poulton, R. (2006) Socially isolated children 20 years later: risk of cardiovascular disease, Archives of Pediatric Adolescence Medicine, 160(8): 805–11. doi: 10.1001/archpedi.160.8.805
Cohen-Mansfield, J. and Eisner, R. (2020) The meaning of loneliness for older persons, Ageing and Mental Health, 24(4): 564–74. doi: 10.1080/13607863.2019.1571019
Collins, R. (1990) Stratification, emotional energy, and the transient emotions, in D. Kemper (ed) Research Agendas in the Sociology of Emotions, Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, pp 27–57.
Collins, R. (2004) Interaction Ritual Chains, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Collins, R. (2019) Emotional micro bases of social inequality: emotional energy, emotional domination and charismatic solidarity, Emotions and Society, 1(1): 45–50. doi: 10.1332/263168919X15580836411823
Dahlberg, K. (2007) The enigmatic phenomenon of loneliness, International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-Being, 2(4): 195–207. doi: 10.1080/17482620701626117
Davis, J.P. and Bellochi, A. (2019) Undramatic emotions in learning: a sociological model, in R. Patulny, A. Bellochi, S. Khorana, R. Olson, J. McKenzie and M. Peterie (eds) Emotions in Late Modernity, London: Routledge, pp 114–28.
Deniz, M.E. (2005) An investigation of social skills and loneliness level of university students with respect to their attachment styles in a sample of Turkish students, Social Behaviour and Personality, 33(1): 19–32. doi: 10.2224/sbp.2005.33.1.19
Emirbayer, E. and Goldberg, C. (2005) Pragmatism, Bourdieu, and collective emotions in contentious politics, Theory and Society, 34(5–6): 469–518. doi: 10.1007/s11186-005-1619-x
Ernst, J.M. and Cacioppo, J.T. (1999) Lonely hearts: psychological perspectives on loneliness, Applied and Preventive Psychology, 8(1): 1–22. doi: 10.1016/S0962-1849(99)80008-0
Franklin, A., Barbosa Neves, B., Hookway, N., Patulny, R., Tranter, B. and Jaworski, K. (2019) Towards an understanding of loneliness among Australian men: gender cultures, embodied expression and the social bases of belonging, Journal of Sociology, 55(1): 124–43. doi: 10.1177/1440783318777309
Goffman, E. (1967) Interaction Ritual: Essays on Face-to-Face Behaviour, Chicago, IL: Aldine.
Hausmann, C., Jonason, A. and Summers-Effler, E. (2011) Interaction ritual theory and structural symbolic interactionism, Symbolic Interaction, 34(3): 319–29. doi: 10.1525/si.2011.34.3.319
Hawkley, L.C. and Cacioppo, J.T. (2010) Loneliness matters: a theoretical and empirical review of consequences and mechanisms, Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 40(2): 218–27. doi: 10.1007/s12160-010-9210-8
Hawkley, L.C., Preacher, K.J. and Cacioppo, J.T. (2010) Loneliness impairs daytime functioning but not sleep duration, Health Psychology, 29(2): 124–9. doi: 10.1037/a0018646
Heinrich, L.M. and Gullone, E. (2006) The clinical significance of loneliness: a literature review, Clinical Psychology Review, 26(6): 695–718. doi: 10.1016/j.cpr.2006.04.002
Helliwell, J., Layard, R. and Sachs, J. (2016) World Happiness Report 2016, Update (Volume 1), New York: Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
Holt-Lunstad, J., Smith, T.B and Layton, J.B. (2010) Social relationships and mortality risk: a meta-analytic review, PLoS Medicine, 7(7): 1–20. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1000316
Jaremka, L.M., Fagunders, C.P., Peng, J., Bennett, J.M., Glaser, R., Malarkey, W.B. and Kiecolt-Glaser, J.K. (2013) Loneliness promotes inflammation during acute stress, Psychological Science, 24(7): 1089–97. doi: 10.1177/0956797612464059
Junttila, N., Kainulainen, S. and Saari, J. (2015) Mapping the lonely landscape: assessing loneliness and its consequences, Open Psychology Journal, 8(1): 89–96. doi: 10.2174/1874350101508010089
Lauder, W., Mummery, K. and Sharkey, S. (2006) Social capital, age and religiosity in people who are lonely, Journal of Clinical Nursing, 15(3): 334–40. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2702.2006.01192.x
Levine, M.P. (2012) Loneliness and eating disorders, Journal of Psychology, 146(1-2): 243–57. doi: 10.1080/00223980.2011.606435
Matthews, D., Danese, A., Gregory, A.M., Caspi, A., Moffitt, T.E. and Arseneault, L. (2017) Sleeping with one eye open: loneliness and sleep quality in young adults, Psychological Medicine, 47(12): 2177–86. doi: 10.1017/S0033291717000629
Mishina, K., Tiiri, E., Lempinen, L., Sillanmäki, L., Kkronström, K. and Sourander, A. (2018) Time trends of Finnish adolescents’ mental health and use of alcohol and cigarettes from 1998−2014, European Child and Adolescence Psychology, 27(12): 1633–43. doi: 10.1007/s00787-018-1158-4.
Osterman, K.F. (2001) Students’ need for belonging in the school community, Review of Educational Research, 70(3): 323–67. doi: 10.3102/00346543070003323
Peplau, L.A. and Perlman, D. (1982) Perspectives on loneliness, in L.A. Peplau and D. Perlman (eds) Loneliness: A Sourcebook of Current Theory, Research and Therapy, New York: Wiley, pp 1–18.
Pyykkönen, J., Myrskylä, P., Haavisto, I., Hiilamo, H. and Nord, U. (2017) Kadonneet Työmiehet: Suomessa 79 000 Miestä ei Tee Tai Aina Edes Hae Töitä: Mitä Heille Tapahtui? [The Vanishing Male Workers: 79, 000 Men Do Not Work or Apply for a Job: What Happened to Them?], Helsinki: Eva-julkaisu (54), https://www.eva.fi/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/no_54.pdf.
Rokach, A. (2013) Loneliness updated: an introduction, in A. Rokach (ed) Loneliness Updated: Recent Research on Loneliness and How It Affects Our Lives, New York: Routledge, pp 1–8.
Russell, D., Peplau, L.A. and Cutrona, C.E. (1980) The revised UCLA loneliness scale: concurrent and discriminant validity evidence, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39(3): 472–80. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.39.3.472
Sawir, E., Marginson, S., Deumert, A., Nyland, C. and Ramia, G. (2008) Loneliness and international students: an Australian study, Journal of Studies in International Education, 12(2): 148–80. doi: 10.1177/1028315307299699
Seeman, T. (2000) Health-promoting effects of friends and family on health outcomes in older adults, American Journal of Health Promotion, 14(6): 362–70. doi: 10.4278/0890-1171-14.6.362
Shaver, P., Furman, W. and Buhrmester, D. (1985) Transition to college: network changes, social skills, and loneliness, in S. Duck and D. Perlman (eds) Understanding Personal Relationships: An Interdisciplinary Approach, London: Sage, pp 193–220.
Shiovitz-Ezra, S. and Ayalon, L. (2010) Situational versus chronic loneliness as risk factors for all-cause mortality, International Psychogeriatrics, 22(3): 455–62, doi: 10.1017/S1041610209991426.
Stokes, J.P. (1985) The relation of social network and individual difference variables to loneliness, Journal Personality and Social Psychology, 48(4): 981–90. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.48.4.981
Student Life (2020) Paving the Path to Student Success, https://www.jyu.fi/studentlife/en.
Summers-Effler, E. (2002) The micro potential for social change: emotion, consciousness, and social movement formation, Sociological Theory, 20(1): 41–60. doi: 10.1111/1467-9558.00150
Summers-Effler, E. (2006) Ritual theory, in J.E. Stets and J.H. Turner (eds) The Handbook of the Sociology of Emotions, New York: Springer, pp 135–54.
Sundström, M., Edberg, A.K., Rämgård, M. and Blomqvist, K. (2018) Encountering existential loneliness among older people: perspectives of health-care professionals, International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Wellbeing, 13(1): 1–12.
Sweeting, H., West, P., Young, R. and Der, G. (2010) Can we explain increase in young people’s psychological distress over time?, Social Science and Medicine, 71(10): 1819–30. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2010.08.012
Tiilikainen, E. and Seppänen, M. (2017) Lost and unfilled relationships behind emotional loneliness, Ageing and Society, 37(5): 1068–88. doi: 10.1017/S0144686X16000040
Turner, J.H. and Stets, J.E. (2005) The Sociology of Emotions, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Välimäki, V. (2018) Yksin Yliopistossa: Yliopisto-opiskelijoiden Kokema Yksinäisyys Korkeakouluopiskelun Elämänvaiheessa, [Alone at University: The Experience of Loneliness of University Students in a Life-Stage of Higher Education] Pro gradu: University of Jyväskylä.
Weiss, R.S. (1973) Loneliness: The Experience of Emotional and Social Isolation, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
May 2022 onwards | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Abstract Views | 1261 | 762 | 53 |
Full Text Views | 732 | 13 | 4 |
PDF Downloads | 359 | 22 | 5 |
Institutional librarians can find more information about free trials here