UCLA psychologists study negative effects of loneliness in relationships

UCLA researchers have found being in a relationship on Valentine’s Day isn’t necessarily a good thing.

Scientists have long known feelings of loneliness negatively impact individuals’ health, but have more recently begun to explore how social support can do the same. Several laboratories at UCLA are studying how individuals’ romantic, platonic and familial relationships affect their mortality.

Daniel Russell, a former researcher at UCLA and human development and family studies professor at Iowa State University, co-developed the UCLA Loneliness Scale after observing that many students didn’t have the relationships they wanted.

First published in 1978, the scale is commonly used to measure the degree of social isolation and loneliness an individual is experiencing. His research found high school and college students experience loneliness more frequently than any other demographic.

Ted Robles, an assistant professor of psychology who runs the Relationships and Health Laboratory at UCLA, defines loneliness as the subjective feeling of distress individuals experience when their social needs aren’t met. He added loneliness can be related to the size of someone’s social network, but people with large social networks can still feel lonely while others with smaller social networks can feel socially fulfilled.

“If for whatever reason you’re finding your family and friends aren’t meeting your needs, you can feel lonely,” Robles said. “Individuals who feel loneliness are at a higher risk for mortality.”

Clinical psychology professor Thomas Bradbury, who runs the UCLA Marriage Lab, said in an email statement that people exercise less, eat unhealthily, grow despondent or feel bad about themselves when they get lonely.

Russell said college students in particular are prone to experiencing loneliness and consequent health problems.

Miriam Green, a second-year psychology student, said she feels pressured to do well in school, and the struggle to balance her social and academic standings often leaves her feeling stressed.

“Because this is a school with so many students, there is a lack of an intimate setting in many classes, and (it’s more difficult to) really get to know someone else,” said Green.

Brett Marroquin, a post-doctoral fellow in health psychology, said he thinks stress can sometimes be generated by social, rather than individual, factors. He added psychologists have recently started to ask how relationships play a role.

Marroquin said the way relationships and loneliness affect individuals’ mental and physical health have become public health concerns. He added research across different fields are starting to look at the effects of public health-oriented interventions intended to help couples who are struggling to communicate.

His research examines how couples cope with cancer diagnoses and how they can better manage their emotions, Marroquin said. He added he hopes to learn how relationships affect individuals’ quality of life and learn how they can help people live longer.

Robles’ research explains how the quality of couples’ relationships affect their health. He said his studies has found couples who talk to each other about their days before going to bed tend to sleep better.

He added researchers at the UCLA Norman Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology have found that people’s immune systems act as if the world is more threatening when they experience loneliness. Robles said vigorous immune systems can seem positive, but they can also produce high levels of inflammation that put people’s health at risk.

Hannah Williamson, a graduate student in clinical psychology who works in the UCLA Marriage Lab, said her research focuses on what kinds of couples are more likely to have access to resources such as social support or different therapies.

She added the physical and mental health implications can affect people from all walks of life, despite varying access to helpful resources.

Robles said he thinks it can be harder for students to form relationships after college.

“Students have access to other people with similar interests, political views and the ways they approach relationships – whether romantic or not,” Robles said. “(College is a good time to) establish your roots and friendships that will last a really long time.”

Alvaro Aguilar, a fourth-year electrical engineering student, said he sometimes felt intimidated and outnumbered when he arrived at UCLA. Aguilar said he tried to interact more with his peers to avoid feeling lonely.

“Becoming involved in engineering groups for minority students and fostering relationships with students that had goals similar to mine really made a difference in my overall college experience,” Aguilar said.

Williamson said people tend to have an egocentric view of the world, so they understand the stress associated with their own exams or job interviews better than they understand the stress others experience.

It’s the ability to understand each other that improves the likelihood of forming meaningful and lasting relationships, she added.

“(Forming relationships is) one of the most universal human experiences,” Williamson said. “People want for their relationships to be happy and fulfilling, but they sometimes fail. That’s a really important mystery – why does this go wrong?”