The solitary side of life: An examination of the time people spend alone from childhood to old age

From childhood to old age people spend increasing amounts of their waking hours alone. This paper examines this enlarging solitary part of daily life as a distinct "experiential niche" having unique potentials and liabilities. The paper synthesizes a program of research in which people of different ages have provided reports on their experiences at random times during the day, including times when they are alone. Findings show that the immediate experience of daily solitude is usually one of loneliness and passivity. This is particularly true in adolescence; for older samples aloneness becomes both more common and less emotionally negative. At the same time, adolescents who spend at least some portion of their time alone appear to be better adjusted, perhaps because solitude facilitates the adolescent developmental tasks of individuation and identity formation, while in adulthood and old age, spending large amounts of time alone is more likely to be correlated with poor adjustment.