Solitude––the absence of social interaction––can bring both positive and negative experiences. Drawing on self-determination theory, we conducted three experience sampling studies to investigate quality of experience and dispositions associated with activities varying on two dimensions––chosenness (chosen/unchosen) and social context (solitary/interactive). Participants (total N = 283) completed surveys 6–7 times each day over a 7-day period (total: 8,769 surveys). Multilevel modeling confirmed that participants reported the lowest quality momentary experiences when engaged in unchosen (vs. chosen) solitary activities. Further, individuals who spent more time on unchosen solitary activities reported lower meaning in life and satisfaction with life. Extraversion was positively associated with time spent on chosen interactive activities but negatively with chosen solitary activities. Post hoc analyses revealed that people low (vs. high) in extraversion reported lower productivity only during unchosen interactive activities. Chosen (vs. unchosen) solitary activities seem to have a relatively benign impact on quality of experience and well-being.

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 (Mage = 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. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Abstract
. With global aging, it is crucial to understand how older adults and the process of aging are viewed by members of society. These attitudes can often influence how older adults are treated. Since the Journal of Gerontology was founded, we have gained increasing insights into attitudes toward aging, with several notable research developments, including clearer conceptualization of different types of aging attitudes (e.g. life-domain-specific attitudes and self-perceptions of aging), a wider variety of measurements, better understanding of how different social determinants shape aging attitudes, and more sophisticated investigations of cultural variance and invariance in aging attitudes. In this article, we highlight these major shifts in the field of aging attitudes in the past 75 years, discuss the contributions of these developments, and point to potential future directions.

Objective: Solitude is a ubiquitous experience, often confused with loneliness, yet sometimes sought out in daily life. This study aimed to identify distinct types of solitude experiences from everyday affect/thought patterns and to examine how and for whom solitude is experienced positively versus negatively. Method: One hundred community-dwelling adults aged 50–85 years (64% female; 56% East Asian, 36% European, 8% other/mixed heritage) and 50 students aged 18–28 years (92% female; 42% East Asian, 22% European, 36% other/mixed) each completed approximately 30 daily life assessments over 10 days on their current and desired social situation, thoughts, and affect. Results: Multilevel latent profile analysis identified two types of everyday solitude: one characterized by negative affect and effortful thought (negative solitude experiences) and one characterized by calm and the near absence of negative affect/effortful thought (positive solitude experiences). Individual differences in social self-efficacy and desire for solitude were associated with everyday positive solitude propensity; trait self-rumination and self-reflection were associated with everyday negative solitude propensity. Conclusions: This study provides a new framework for conceptualizing everyday solitude. It identifies specific affect/thought patterns that characterize distinct solitude experience clusters, and it links these clusters with well-established individual differences. We discuss key traits associated with thriving in solitude.

Objectives: Being alone is often equated with loneliness. Yet, recent findings suggest that the objective state of being alone (i.e. solitude) can have both positive and negative connotations. The present research aimed to examine (1) affective experience in daily solitude; and (2) the association between everyday affect in solitude and well-being. We examined the distinct roles of culture and immigration in moderating these associations. Method: Using up to 35 daily life assessments of momentary affect, solitude, and emotional well-being in two samples (Canada and China), the study compared older adults who aged in place (local Caucasians in Vancouver, Canada and local Hong Kong Chinese in Hong Kong, China) and older adults of different cultural heritages who immigrated to Canada (immigrated Caucasians and immigrated East Asians). Results: We found that older adults of East Asian heritage experienced more positive and less negative affect when alone than did Caucasians. Reporting positive affect in solitude was more positively associated with well-being in older adults who had immigrated to Canada as compared to those who had aged in place. Conclusions:These findings speak to the unique effects of culture and immigration on the affective correlates of solitude and their associations with well-being in old age.

Abstract. Information and communication technology (ICT) has the potential to benefit aging processes. This study examined portable ICT usage and associated changes in physical activity, loneliness, and cognitive functioning. Ninety-two mostly-novice tablet-users aged 51–85 years participated in technology workshops and then reported on their portable ICT use biweekly for 6+ months. Physical activity, loneliness, and executive functioning were assessed before and after this period. More frequent use of exercise functions was associated with more moderate-intensity physical activity and less sitting, controlling for pretracking levels. More frequent use of social functions was associated with more social loneliness and a tendency toward less emotional loneliness, controlling for pretracking levels of loneliness. The use of exercise and social functions showed no associations with executive functioning. Portable ICT thus may bring both risks and benefits for physical and social functioning in older adulthood.

Background: Spending time alone constitutes a ubiquitous part of our everyday lives. As we get older, alone time increases. Less is known, however, about age differences in the experience of spending time alone (momentary solitude). Objectives: We examined time-varying associations between momentary solitude, affect quality, and two hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity markers [salivary cortisol; dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAs)] to better understand the affective and biological correlates of momentary solitude across the adult life span. Method: a total of 185 adults aged 20-81 years (mean age = 49 years, 51% female, 74% Caucasian) completed questionnaires on momentary solitude (alone vs. not alone) and current affect on a handheld device, and provided concurrent saliva samples up to seven times a day for 10 consecutive days. Data were analyzed using multilevel models, controlling for the overall amount of time participants spent alone during the study (overall solitude). Results: Greater overall solitude was associated with decreased average high arousal positive affect and increased average cortisol and DHEAs levels. Momentary solitude was associated with reduced high arousal positive affect, increased low arousal positive affect, and increased low arousal negative affect. Age by momentary solitude interactions indicate that greater age was associated with increased high arousal positive affect and reduced low arousal negative affect during momentary solitude. Furthermore, momentary solitude was associated with increased cortisol and DHEAs. With greater age, the association between momentary solitude and cortisol weakened. Conclusion: Consistent with the negative connotations to loneliness and objective social isolation, greater overall solitude was associated with negative affective and biological correlates. Spending a large overall amount of time alone in old age might thus have negative ramifications for health and well-being. Momentary solitude, in contrast, can be a double-edged sword as evidenced by both positive and negative well-being implications. Importantly, greater age is linked to more favorable affective and biological correlates of momentary solitude. The momentary state of spending time alone is thus an experience that is not necessarily negative and that may improve with aging.