Page |47 between 1985 and 2004 in the number of New York: HarperCollins Americans who reported no one with Publishers. whom to discuss important matters.'° 2. Caspi, A., Harrington, H., We are a meaning-making species, and Moffitt, T.E., Milne, B.J., & relationships that offer security, comfort, Poulton, R. (2006). Socially trust, and pleasure, even if interactions isolated children 20 years later. are relatively infrequent, are much more Archives of Pediatric Adolescent effective at fostering a sense of Medicine, 160, 805-811. connectedness and belonging than are 3. Sugisawa, H., Liang, J., & Liu, more friends or more frequent X. (1994). Social networks, interactions that fail to meet these social support, and mortality standards. The challenge, especially for among older people in Japan. those of us who live in Western society, Journal of Gerontology, 49, S3- is to recognize that the invisible force of 13. social connectedness has benefits for 4. Cheng, S. (1992). Loneliness- health and well-being that we ignore at distress and physician utilization our peril. in well-elderly females. Journal Conclusion of Community Psychology, 20, The research on loneliness 43-56; Geller, J., Janson, P., highlights the need for and benefits of McGovern, E., & Valdini, A. human connections, but it speaks even (1999). Loneliness as a predictor more directly to the role of beliefs about of hospital emergency our connections. Loneliness, after all, is department use. The Journal of not about how many social relationships Family Practice, 48, 801-804. a person has, but is about a belief that 5. Hawkley, L. C., & Cacioppo, J. the existing social relationships fail to T. (2007). Aging and loneliness: satisfy a desired sense of social Downhill quickly? Current connectedness. All human relationships Directions in Psychological have a tangible existence in physical Science, 16, 187-191. interactions and an invisible existence in 6. Hawkley, L. C., Hughes, M. E., mental representations and