Loneliness and interaction ritual theory: failed interaction chains among Finnish university students

Author:
Hanna-Mari Husu University of Jyväskylä, Finland

Search for other papers by Hanna-Mari Husu in
Current site
Google Scholar
Close
Restricted access
Get eTOC alerts
Rights and permissions Cite this article

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): 318. doi: 10.1037/0022-0167.33.1.31

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 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): 62952. doi: 10.1007/s11422-015-9673-9

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Braun, V. and Clarke, V. (2006) Using thematic analysis in psychology, Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2): 77101. doi: 10.1191/1478088706qp063oa

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Burkitt, I. (2002) Complex emotions: relations, feelings and images in emotional experience, Sociological Review, 50(52): 15167. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-954X.2002.tb03596.x

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 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): 80511. doi: 10.1001/archpedi.160.8.805

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Cohen-Mansfield, J. and Eisner, R. (2020) The meaning of loneliness for older persons, Ageing and Mental Health, 24(4): 56474. doi: 10.1080/13607863.2019.1571019

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 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 2757.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 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): 4550. doi: 10.1332/263168919X15580836411823

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Dahlberg, K. (2007) The enigmatic phenomenon of loneliness, International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-Being, 2(4): 195207. doi: 10.1080/17482620701626117

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 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 11428.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 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): 1932. doi: 10.2224/sbp.2005.33.1.19

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Emirbayer, E. and Goldberg, C. (2005) Pragmatism, Bourdieu, and collective emotions in contentious politics, Theory and Society, 34(5–6): 469518. doi: 10.1007/s11186-005-1619-x

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Ernst, J.M. and Cacioppo, J.T. (1999) Lonely hearts: psychological perspectives on loneliness, Applied and Preventive Psychology, 8(1): 122. doi: 10.1016/S0962-1849(99)80008-0

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 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): 12443. doi: 10.1177/1440783318777309

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 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): 31929. doi: 10.1525/si.2011.34.3.319

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 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): 21827. doi: 10.1007/s12160-010-9210-8

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Hawkley, L.C., Preacher, K.J. and Cacioppo, J.T. (2010) Loneliness impairs daytime functioning but not sleep duration, Health Psychology, 29(2): 1249. doi: 10.1037/a0018646

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Heinrich, L.M. and Gullone, E. (2006) The clinical significance of loneliness: a literature review, Clinical Psychology Review, 26(6): 695718. doi: 10.1016/j.cpr.2006.04.002

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Helliwell, J., Layard, R. and Sachs, J. (2016) World Happiness Report 2016, Update (Volume 1), New York: Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Holt-Lunstad, J., Smith, T.B and Layton, J.B. (2010) Social relationships and mortality risk: a meta-analytic review, PLoS Medicine, 7(7): 120. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1000316

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 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): 108997. doi: 10.1177/0956797612464059

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Junttila, N., Kainulainen, S. and Saari, J. (2015) Mapping the lonely landscape: assessing loneliness and its consequences, Open Psychology Journal, 8(1): 8996. doi: 10.2174/1874350101508010089

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Lauder, W., Mummery, K. and Sharkey, S. (2006) Social capital, age and religiosity in people who are lonely, Journal of Clinical Nursing, 15(3): 33440. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2702.2006.01192.x

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Levine, M.P. (2012) Loneliness and eating disorders, Journal of Psychology, 146(1-2): 24357. 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): 217786. doi: 10.1017/S0033291717000629

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 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): 163343. doi: 10.1007/s00787-018-1158-4.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Osterman, K.F. (2001) Students’ need for belonging in the school community, Review of Educational Research, 70(3): 32367. doi: 10.3102/00346543070003323

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 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 118.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 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.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 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 18.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 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): 47280. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.39.3.472

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 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): 14880. doi: 10.1177/1028315307299699

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Seeman, T. (2000) Health-promoting effects of friends and family on health outcomes in older adults, American Journal of Health Promotion, 14(6): 36270. doi: 10.4278/0890-1171-14.6.362

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 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 193220.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Shiovitz-Ezra, S. and Ayalon, L. (2010) Situational versus chronic loneliness as risk factors for all-cause mortality, International Psychogeriatrics, 22(3): 45562, doi: 10.1017/S1041610209991426.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Stokes, J.P. (1985) The relation of social network and individual difference variables to loneliness, Journal Personality and Social Psychology, 48(4): 98190. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.48.4.981

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 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): 4160. doi: 10.1111/1467-9558.00150

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 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 13554.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 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): 112.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 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): 181930. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2010.08.012

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Tiilikainen, E. and Seppänen, M. (2017) Lost and unfilled relationships behind emotional loneliness, Ageing and Society, 37(5): 106888. doi: 10.1017/S0144686X16000040

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 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.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Weiss, R.S. (1973) Loneliness: The Experience of Emotional and Social Isolation, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Hanna-Mari Husu University of Jyväskylä, Finland

Search for other papers by Hanna-Mari Husu in
Current site
Google Scholar
Close

Content Metrics

May 2022 onwards Past Year Past 30 Days
Abstract Views 1261 762 53
Full Text Views 732 13 4
PDF Downloads 359 22 5

Altmetrics

Dimensions