The Differential Roles of Chronic and Transient Loneliness in Daily Prosocial Behavior

Public Significance Statement Loneliness is a recognized risk factor for both morbidity and mortality. Increasing evidence shows that loneliness is predictive of mortality and a range of physical and mental health conditions across the adult lifespan including old age. Loneliness is an adverse experience, but it can also serve as a signal-a "social hunger"-that prompts us to socially reengage. This research suggests that middle-aged and older adults who experience loneliness over an extended period of time withdraw from prosocial opportunities (such as acts of kindness and volunteering) rather than engage when experiencing acute loneliness. Findings highlight a need for interventions that help chronically lonely adults respond to momentary loneliness by pursuing opportunities to reconnect rather than withdraw from others. Loneliness is a recognized risk factor for morbidity and mortality across the adult life span including old age. Loneliness is a negative emotional experience that has been associated with social isolation, but loneliness may also be adaptive to the extent that it signals a need to socially reengage. To reconcile these seemingly contradictory findings, we unpack the timing of the underlying processes by distinguishing between transient and chronic loneliness in shaping prosocial behaviors. Using 10 days of electronic daily life assessments from 100 middle-aged and older adults (M (age) = 67.0 years; 64.0% women), findings indicate that chronic loneliness moderates time-varying associations between transient loneliness and prosocial behavior. Simple slope results point to individual differences in daily loneliness-prosocial action associations. Specifically, adults high in chronic loneliness, but not those low in chronic loneliness, showed decreased prosocial behaviors on days with elevated transient loneliness. Findings suggest that chronic loneliness may elicit maladaptive responses to transient loneliness by hampering the use of opportunities to engage in prosocial behavior. Exploratory analyses point to fear of evaluation as a potential mechanism that is associated with increased loneliness and reduced prosocial behavior. Findings highlight the differential roles of transient and chronic loneliness in shaping prosocial activities in midlife and older adulthood, thereby providing a more nuanced picture as well as potential avenues for intervention.