Navigating the theoretical landscape of loneliness research: How interdisciplinary synergy contributes to further conceptualizations

Abstract

Despite the relevance of loneliness to family scholarship, an attempt to integrate various perspectives on loneliness with relevant insights from loneliness research for understanding contemporary families has not yet been made. Although quantitative researchers have developed measures that have been fruitful in broadening insights about loneliness, they have failed to grasp its multidimensional and dynamic nature. Due to a shift in emphasis from lived experiences to correlational variables, loneliness research has been confronted with two particular problems. First, endeavors to refine previous conceptualizations of loneliness have stagnated. Second, research questions are scattered across a variety of disciplines. This article provides an integrated multidisciplinary theory from which it becomes clear that a family focus is of great importance to all disciplines concerned with loneliness, because opportunities for social interaction, relational standards, and sources of loneliness depend on familial and developmental histories and the cultural orientation of the families in which individuals live.