Individuals experience loneliness when they perceive a deficiency in the quality or quantity of their social relationships. In the present meta-analysis, we compiled data from 75 longitudinal studies conducted in Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America (N = 83, 679) to examine the rank-order and mean-level development of loneliness across the life span. Data were analyzed using two- and three-level meta-analyses and generalized additive mixed models. The results indicate that the rank order of loneliness is as stable as the rank order of personality traits and follows an inverted U-shaped trajectory across the life span. Regarding mean-level development, loneliness was found to decrease throughout childhood and to remain essentially stable from adolescence to oldest old age. Thus, in contrast to other personality characteristics, changes in loneliness are not generally related to age. Implications for theory are discussed.

中文翻译：

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整个生命周期孤独感的稳定性和变化：纵向研究的荟萃分析。


当个人意识到自己的社会关系的质量或数量不足时，他们就会感到孤独。在本荟萃分析中，我们汇总了在亚洲、澳大利亚、欧洲和北美（N = 83, 679）进行的 75 项纵向研究的数据，以研究整个生命周期中孤独感的排名顺序和平均水平发展。使用两级和三级荟萃分析以及广义加性混合模型对数据进行分析。结果表明，孤独感的排序与人格特质的排序一样稳定，并且在整个生命周期中遵循倒U形轨迹。就平均发展水平而言，孤独感在整个童年时期都在减少，并且从青春期到老年保持基本稳定。因此，与其他人格特征相比，孤独感的变化通常与年龄无关。讨论了理论意义。