Stability and change in feelings of loneliness: A two‐year prospective longitudinal study of advanced alcohol abusers

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Abstract
In order to study the changing nature of loneliness in a prospective design, 78 alcoholics were examined twice with an interval of two years. Change scores in loneliness were correlated with change scores in social network, psychological well‐being, life‐satisfaction, activities, adaptation to one's work and non‐work situation, psychiatric symptoms and alcohol consumption. In addition, a step‐wise multiple regression analysis with loneliness change as the dependent variable was performed. Change in loneliness was accompanied by changes in well‐being (especially indolence, self‐esteem and perceived treatment from others), mood‐related psychiatric variables and satisfaction with autonomy and life as a whole. However, other variables, like satisfaction with one's social network and a number of non‐cyclic psychiatric disorders, did not change along with loneliness, despite stable cross‐sectional links. The discrepancy between the cross‐sectional and the longitudinal correlation patterns may be indicative of different forms of loneliness in regard to temporal stability.

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