Why feeling alone may matter more than being alone
ITHACA, N.Y. — Loneliness is often described as a simple absence — of people, of connection, of companionship. But two new Cornell University studies suggest it may be something more complex, and more consequential: not just how socially connected people are, but how they experience those connections in the first place.
The first study, published in “JAMA Network Open,” introduces the concept of social asymmetry — the gap between objective social isolation and the subjective feeling of loneliness. Drawing on data from 7,845 adults over age 50 in England, followed for an average of 13.6 years, the study finds that this mismatch is associated with increased risk of disease and death.
Participants who felt lonelier than their level of social connection would predict faced a higher risk of all causes of mortality, cardiovascular disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease compared with those whose feelings and social circumstances were more aligned, even when accounting for demographic, behavioral and health factors.
“Most public health messaging around loneliness focuses on expanding social networks. But what this study suggests is that connection alone isn’t the whole story,” said co‑author Anthony Ong, professor of psychology. “Two people can have similar social circumstances and face very different health trajectories depending on how they experience those circumstances.”
“What’s encouraging is that social asymmetry is measurable, which means we can potentially identify who’s most at risk before the health consequences set in.”
A second study, published in the Nature journal “Communications Psychology,” offers a window into how this mismatch may arise and persist in daily life.
In that research, 157 adults were tracked intensively over 20 days, responding to smartphone prompts five times a day. At each interval, they reported how lonely they felt, whether they had interacted with others, how much they disclosed in those interactions, and whether they felt rejected or criticized.
Moments of loneliness were closely tied to perceptions of social threat — feeling excluded, criticized or devalued. Those perceptions, in turn, were associated with changes in behavior, including reduced social interaction and less willingness to share personal information. Over time, these patterns formed what researchers describe as self‑reinforcing sequences, in which emotional states, perceptions and behaviors feed into one another.
Together, the two studies point to a shift in how loneliness is understood.
“These findings suggest that intervention may require more than expanding the size of a person’s social network,” Ong said. “Addressing loneliness will therefore require attention not only to the structural conditions that produce it, but also to the perceptual and behavioral dynamics that sustain it.”
For additional information, read this Cornell Chronicle story.
Cornell University has dedicated television and audio studios available for media interviews.
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Journal
JAMA Network Open
Article Title
Social Asymmetry and Risk of Morbidity and Mortality
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