Loneliness in Personality Disorders

Connecting loneliness with pathological personality traits: Evidence for genetic and environmental mediation from a study of older twins

Loneliness has broad public health importance, especially in older adulthood, and there is some evidence suggesting it is associated with several personality disorders (PDs). The etiology of these PD-loneliness associations, however, has rarely been studied, especially in the context of the maladaptive traits of the DSM-5 alternative model of personality disorder (AMPD). To address these limitations, we estimated phenotypic, genetic, and unique environmental associations between loneliness and maladaptive personality traits in a sample of older adults from the Minnesota Twin Registry (n = 1,356, Mage = 70.4). Loneliness was moderately to strongly associated with each of the AMPD domains of negative affect, detachment, antagonism, disinhibition, and psychoticism (r = .22-.58), with evidence of both genetic (rg = .45-.75) and unique environmental (re = .10-.48) influences explaining the associations to varying degrees. We argue that loneliness may be an underappreciated concomitant of personality pathology, with PD traits perhaps underlying its development. Indeed, these findings suggest that loneliness may be a manifestation of the genetic and environmental forces that also lead to pathological personality variation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Loneliness Is Associated With Lower Self- and Clinician-Rated Levels of Personality Functioning

Personality disorders (PDs) are associated with interpersonal dysfunction, loneliness, and reduced social embeddedness. This study investigates loneliness and social network size in association with self- and clinician-rated personality functioning regarding the DSM-5's Alternative Model for Personality Disorders (AMPD). Eighty psychiatric inpatients including participants with and without PDs completed the Semi-structured Interview for Personality Functioning, the Level of Personality Functioning Scale - Brief Form, the UCLA Loneliness Scale, and the Social Network Index. Patients with PDs reported more loneliness and personality dysfunctioning than patients without PDs. Social network size did not differ between patient groups and showed lower correlations with personality functioning compared to loneliness. Loneliness was further associated with deficits in personality functioning. Deficits in distinct AMPD domains and loneliness may constitute transdiagnostically relevant factors that are related and mutually reinforcing. This could be important for identifying patients beyond PD diagnoses who are at risk of poor psychosocial functioning and require tailored psychotherapy.

Understanding loneliness: The roles of self- and interpersonal dysfunction and early parental indifference

Many factors are implicated in developing and maintaining loneliness, including aspects of personality functioning and experience of early adverse childhood events. This study aimed to examine the relationship between domains of personality dysfunction, including self- and interpersonal functioning, and loneliness and determine whether such personality factors mediate the relationship between childhood parental indifference and loneliness. In total, 393 community-dwelling adults, mean age 34.3 (SD = 12.67), were recruited online for cross-sectional assessment of loneliness, personality functioning, big-five personality traits and perceived childhood parental indifference. Linear regression analyses were conducted followed by a parallel mediation model. Self- and interpersonal dysfunction were positively associated with loneliness and remained significant predictors of loneliness after controlling for five-factor personality traits. Impaired personality functioning accounted for 12% of loneliness variance. Finally, self-dysfunction mediated the relationship between childhood parental indifference and loneliness. Findings emphasize the importance of addressing personality functioning when developing psychosocial interventions aimed at tackling loneliness.

Aggressive intentions after social exclusion and their association with loneliness

Both social exclusion and loneliness are aversive experiences that can lead to hostile behavioral reactions, including aggressive behavior. This study aimed to assess whether a social exclusion scenario in the subject's imagination elicits aggressive reactions towards an excluding person as measured with the hot sauce paradigm. Furthermore, we studied the effect of loneliness on such reactions. In total, 251 subjects (67.7% female; mean age 27.3 ± 9.3 years) participated in this study which was based on an online survey. After trait loneliness was assessed with the UCLA Loneliness scale at baseline, two imaginary scenarios were presented in randomized order, i.e., an exclusion condition (with one of two working colleagues excluding the participant from a social activity) and an inclusion condition (without exclusion). Following each scenario, participants had the task to allocate the amount of hot sauce to each colleague that they find appropriate. Participants distributed significantly more hot sauce to the excluder than to the includers. The amount of hot sauce was significantly correlated with loneliness for all includer interactions (i.e., after the inclusion as well as the exclusion scenario), but not for the interaction with the excluder. Our results support the hypothesis that social exclusion elicits aggressive behavior. Interestingly, the experience of loneliness seems to be associated with an increase in aggressive behavioral tendencies or a lack of their inhibition. The cognitive and/or emotional processes underlying the interplay between social exclusion, loneliness and aggression should be a focus of future research.