The research described here centers on how a narcissistic intrusion during early childhood may develop into narcissistic difficulties which manifest themselves, later in life, in feelings of loneliness. The results from a study of elderly women in Stockholm, Sweden, indicated that loneliness in old age is greater among an intruded group in comparison to those whose parental influence was not intrusive. The feelings of loneliness are even more severe if the mother was a housewife. There was also a relationship between social position and loneliness, but only for those women whose family orientation was not intrusive and whose mothers were housewives. The results encourage further study of the etiological contributions of parental influence during childhood on later experience of loneliness.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
PerlmanD. and PeplauL., Loneliness. A Sourcebook of Current Theory, Research and Therapy, PeplauL. and PerlmanD. (eds.), John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1982.
2.
AnderssonL., A Model of Estrangement—Including a Theoretical Understanding of Loneliness, Psychological Reports, 58, pp. 683–695, 1986.
3.
WeissR., Loneliness. A Sourcebook of Current Theory, Research and Therapy, PeplauL. and PerlmanD. (eds.), John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1982.
4.
ShaverP., Preventing the Harmful Consequences of Severe and Persistent Loneliness, PeplauL. and GoldstoneS. (eds.), National Institute of Mental Health, DHSS, Publication No. (ADM) 84-1312, Washington, D.C., 1984.
5.
AnderssonL.MullinsL. C., and JohnssonD. P., Parental Intrusion versus Social Isolation: A Dichotomous View of the Sources of Loneliness, Journal of Social Behavior and Personality (special issue)2, pp. 125–134, 1987.
6.
BowlbyJ., Attachment and Loss, Vol. I. Attachment, Basic Books, New York, 1969.
7.
BowlbyJ., The Making and Breaking of Affectional Bonds. I. Aetiology and Psychopathology in the Light of Attachment Theory, British Journal of Psychiatry, 130, pp. 201–210, 1977.
8.
MooreB., Toward a Clarification of the Concept of Narcissism, The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 30, pp. 243–276, 1975.
9.
LoewensteinS., An Overview of the Concept of Narcissism, Social Casework, pp. 136–142, March 1977.
10.
KernbergO., Borderline Conditions and Pathological Narcissism, Jason Aronson, New York, 1976.
11.
BaderM. and PhilipsonI., Narcissism and Family Structure, Psychoanalysis Contemporary Thought, 3, pp. 299–328, 1980.
12.
GreenA., A Modern Introduction to the Family, BellN. and VogelE. (eds.), The Free Press, New York, 1968.
13.
BrodeyW., On the Dynamics of Narcissism, The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 20, pp. 165–193, 1965.
14.
FerreiraA., A Modern Introduction to the Family, BellN. and VogelE. (eds.), The Free Press, New York, 1968.
15.
RichterH-E., Jahrbuch der Psychoanalyse, Band 1, Westdeutscher Verlag, Köln und Oplanden, 1960.
16.
AnderssonL., Intervention against Loneliness in a Group of Elderly Women: A Process Evaluation, Human Relations, 37, pp. 295–310, 1984.
17.
RusselD.PeplauL., and CutronaC., The Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale: Concurrent and Discriminant Validity Evidence, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39, pp. 472–480, 1980.
18.
SchmidtM., Interviewing the Old-Old, The Gerontologist, 15, pp. 544–547, 1975.
19.
SCB, Socio-ekonomisk indelning (SEI). Utvärdering, översyn och komplettering av 1974 års förslag, Statistiska Centralbyrån, Stockholm, 1980.
20.
EriksonR., Om Socio-ekonomiska Indelningar av Hushåll. Överväganden och ett Förslag. (On Socioeconomic Classifications of Households—Some Considerations and a Proposal), Statistisk Tidskrift (Statistical review)19, pp. 11–23, 1981.
21.
McCraeR. and CostaP. T.Jr., Social Desirability Scales: More Substance than Style, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 51, pp. 882–888, 1983.
22.
SlaterP., A Modern Introduction to the Family, BellN. and VogelE. (eds.), The Free Press, New York, 1968.
23.
KohutH., The Restoration of the Self, International Universities Press, New York, 1976.
24.
AnsbacherH. and AnsbacherR. (eds.), The Individual Psychology of Alfred Adler. A Systematic Presentation in Selections from His Writings, George Allen and Unwin Ltd., London, 1958.
25.
AinsworthM. D. S.BleharM. C.WatersE., and WallS., Patterns of Attachment, Lawrence Erlbaum, Hillsdale, New Jersey, 1978.
