Nation/World Briefly: Loneliness contagious, 10-year study finds
Published 6:48 pm Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Although it may sound counterintuitive, loneliness can spread from one person to another, according to research being released today that underscores the power of one person’s emotions to affect friends, family and neighbors.
The federally funded analysis of data collected from more than 4,000 people over 10 years found that lonely people increase the chances that someone they know will start to feel alone, and that the solitary feeling can spread one more degree of separation, causing a friend of a friend or even the sibling of a friend to feel desolate.
“Loneliness can be transmitted,” said John Cacioppo, a University of Chicago psychologist who led the study being published in the December issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. “Loneliness is not just the property of an individual. It can be transmitted across people — even people you don’t have direct contact with.”
Although the study did not examine how loneliness spreads, Cacioppo said other research has provided clues. People who feel lonely tend to act in negative ways toward those they do have contact with, perpetuating the behavior and the emotion, he said.
The researchers used information gathered from the participants over decades, including their friendships, identities of their neighbors, co-workers and family members, and information about their emotional state. Nearly 4,800 people were interviewed every two years between 1991 and 2001.
D.C.: High court backs White House on detainee photos
The Supreme Court threw out an appeals court ruling Monday that ordered the disclosure of photographs of detainees being abused by their U.S. captors. The justices issued a brief, and expected, order Monday directing the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York to take another look at a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union to obtain the photos of detainee abuse. President Barack Obama at first didn’t oppose the release, but he changed his mind, saying they could whip up anti-American sentiment overseas and endanger U.S. troops.
California: Movement under way to ban divorce
Sacramento Web designer wants to put a measure on the ballot next year to ban divorce in California. The effort is meant to be a satirical statement after California voters outlawed gay marriage in 2008, largely on the argument that a ban is needed to protect the sanctity of traditional marriage. If that’s the case, then Marcotte reasons voters should have no problem banning divorce. Marcotte needs 694,354 valid signatures by March 22, 2010, to get the initiative to voters, a high hurdle in a state where the typical petition drive costs millions of dollars. Nationwide, about half of all marriages end in divorce.
Florida: Tourist arrested in fake Disney bomb threat
A German tourist was arrested Sunday on charges of making a false bomb threat while visiting Walt Disney World in Orlando, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said. The Sheriff’s office said 37-year-old Jochen Naumann of Leipzig, Germany, was going through the security checkpoint at the entrance of the Magic Kingdom on Sunday when he told an employee he had two bombs in his backpack. A sheriff’s deputy had a bomb-sniffing dog check Naumann’s bag and no explosive devices were found. The report said Naumann claimed he was only joking. He was arrested on a charge of making a false report of a bomb.
Iran: Nuke plans called bluster
Iran’s announcement of plans to build 10 more uranium enrichment facilities is largely bluster after a strong rebuke from the U.N.’s nuclear agency, analysts said Monday. Nonetheless, the defiance is fueling calls among Western allies for new punitive sanctions to freeze Iran’s nuclear program. Iran responded that it felt forced to move forward with the plans after the International Atomic Energy Agency passed a resolution Friday demanding that it halt all enrichment activities.
New Zeland: Strong winds push iceberg flotilla away
Strong westerly winds in the Pacific Ocean have driven scores of icebergs originally headed toward New Zealand to the east, away from the country, an oceanographer with the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research said today. A shipping alert was sent out last week and maritime authorities have been monitoring the iceberg flotilla as it drifted north from Antarctica toward South Island. Scientists say the current flotilla of icebergs likely split off Antarctica in 2000 when parts of two major ice shelves fractured.
From Herald news services
