Neuroticism Causes Loneliness Via Social Anxiety:The Moderating Role Of Positive Solitude

Background: Characterological theories of loneliness suggest that personality traits can lead to loneliness by influencing an individual’s social will and behavior.Neuroticism is one such personality trait that can make people more prone to social anxiety,while people with social anxiety often have low social will and social avoidance,ultimately resulting in loneliness.Therefore,social anxiety may play a mediating role in the relationship between neuroticism and loneliness.This internal mechanism is crucial for practice as current interventions for loneliness are not effective enough.We need new interventions based on individuals’ inner factors,and positive solitude is a potentially viable option.Positive solitude refers to an individual’s ability to create benign connections with oneself,irrespective of the environment.We propose positive solitude as a new feasible intervention for loneliness.Accordingly,this research aims to test whether neuroticism affects loneliness through social anxiety and explore whether positive solitude can help reduce loneliness or not.Methods: We conducted three studies to achieve our aims.Study 1 built and tested a mediation model of neuroticism → social anxiety → loneliness with cross-sectional data from 565 Chinese college students.Study 2 replicated the mediation model with cross-lagged method in another 376 Chinese college students.Study 3introduced positive solitude into the mediation model as a moderating variable,and evaluated the moderating effect of positive solitude among 552 Chinese college students.Results:(1)The mediation model was valid in both cross-sectional and longitudinal perspectives.Neuroticism could lead to loneliness via social anxiety.In addition,there was a bidirectional predictive effect between neuroticism and social anxiety.(2)Positive solitude could significantly alleviate loneliness caused by neuroticism and social anxiety.Conclusion: This study validated the mediation model of neuroticism → social anxiety → loneliness in both cross-sectional and longitudinal perspectives.The results indicate that neuroticism is a significant predictor of loneliness,leading to loneliness via social anxiety.Moreover,positive solitude can significantly reduce loneliness caused by neuroticism and social anxiety.As a conclusion,positive solitude can be an effective intervention for loneliness in future work.