In our busy lives, solitude often emerges as a brief respite between social engagements or a deliberate choice when we need time for ourselves. This research has suggested that solitude can be a powerful tool for emotional regulation, particularly by helping to downregulate high-arousal emotions like excitement or anger.
Dr. Thùy Vy T Nguyễn, PhD and colleagues' study on solitude builds on this idea, aiming to understand when and why people seek solitude daily, especially about their emotional states.
This month, ExpiWell has the privilege of interviewing Dr. Nguyen to learn more about the study and its research process.
Solitude has long been recognized as a state of being alone, either physically or subjectively, and is often seen as a neutral space disengaged from the demands of others. Dr. Nguyen was mainly motivated to explore how solitude functions in the emotional regulation process among young adults.
Dr. Nguyen shared, "My PhD dissertation discovered that spending time alone brings down arousal levels, including positive emotions like excitement and energization and negative emotions like anger and frustration. That finding led me to the next question: if solitude brings down those high-arousal emotions, would people be more likely to seek out solitude when they experience those emotions?"
She was intrigued by the idea that solitude could be a coping mechanism for managing high-arousal emotions, offering a unique opportunity to reset and reflect. Her study is grounded in the hypothesis that solitude might be more frequently chosen during heightened emotional arousal.
For many young adults, solitude is not just a moment of peace but a deliberate withdrawal from social interaction to manage overwhelming emotions. Dr. Nguyen's study focused on how these individuals might use solitude to downregulate emotions, whether those emotions are positive (like excitement) or negative (like anger).
She explained, "I think this study opens up questions about behaviors we often name "social withdrawal" in young adults. That is usually considered bad; however, another angle needs consideration, such that young people might simply desire solitude to regulate those negative emotions."
This aspect of the study is crucial, as it examines solitude not merely as a state of being alone but as a strategic choice for emotional self-care.
She added, "In this study, while we find that preference for solitude is heightened when those emotions come up, this preference might be driven by different reasons, to avoid the social hurt that other people have brought on or to process difficult feelings that one does not want to share with others. This finding does not give us enough evidence that warrants prejudgement of the preference for solitude linked to negative emotions, so I would caution against that."
To delve deeper into this insight, Dr. Nguyen and colleagues used the Ecological Momentary Assessment as a research method to gain real-time findings on how solitude regulates emotion when faced with high-arousal feelings.
Dr. Nguyen utilized the Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) to track participants' emotions and social interactions throughout the day. Participants were prompted hourly to report their current emotional state and whether they were alone or with others. This real-time data collection method allowed Dr. Nguyen to observe patterns when solitude was chosen and how they related to the participants' emotional states.
Dr. Nguyen supported her study's findings and shared, "This research provides another piece of evidence that solitude might play a role in human emotion and stress regulation behaviors. We found that preference for solitude increases when people experience high-arousal negative emotions, which we think are aversive or stress states, but not when they experience high-arousal positive emotions."
Contrary to the initial hypothesis, the study did not find a direct link between high arousal-emotions and subsequent solitude. However, the data revealed that participants preferred solitude when experiencing high-arousal negative emotions, mainly in social situations.
This preference was notably stronger among younger adults, suggesting that solitude might be vital for managing difficult emotions within this demographic.
On a final note, Dr. Nguyen explained, "It makes sense that when our interactions with others are not going well, we might prefer avoiding such situations and want to be alone, but interestingly, even when people are alone when they experience those negative emotions, they prefer to continue being alone rather than seeking out others. This points toward the direction that solitude might be a behavior to promote recovery when the organism is under stress; however, this remains a hypothesis to be tested."
Dr. Nguyen's study offers fresh insights into how young adults navigate their emotional landscapes using solitude. While solitude did not always follow heightened emotional arousal, the preference for being alone during such times highlights its potential role in emotional regulation.
The use of EMA in this study provided a detailed, moment-by-moment understanding of these patterns, showcasing the value of this method in psychological research.
Dr. Nguyen's research sheds light on the nuanced relationship between solitude and emotional regulation. By using EMA as a research method, the study helps us understand human behavior, which can help future researchers understand well-being and how we address heightened emotions.
You Can Also Read: Elevate Your Well-Being: A Guide to Ecological Momentary Assessment Mastery
Studying human behavior is complicated, and you need to understand the intricacies of analyzing data to get an accurate picture of human behavior. With ExpiWell, Dr. Nguyen's research process helps her gather data conveniently and assists her in uncovering the question behind it.
Reflecting on her experience, she shared, "This study involves scheduling surveys that are sent out every hour, which is more than what is usually involved in a typical ESM/EMA study (5 to 8 signals). However, ExpiWell has made this scheduling less tedious because you just need to design the surveys and then drag them onto the dates you want them sent out."
She continued, "ExpiWell also allows options to send out reminders, which are helpful for the participants. There were also good options for question types, and the design was also pleasing. We were able to instruct participants easily to download ExpiWell and navigate through the app to join the experience entirely online! I think the app is quite user-friendly. Along the way, if we experienced any issues, we were also able to contact the technical team, and they were very responsive."
The ExpiWell team is excited to have helped and facilitated Dr. Nguyen and colleagues' research. We continue to work toward innovating and enhancing scientific discovery.
We invite you to explore our Journal Publications section to learn more about insightful research studies and discover how ExpiWell has facilitated critical experience sampling and ecological momentary assessment data collection.
If you're interested in harnessing the power of ExpiWell, don't hesitate to contact us with any questions or for support. You can also email sales@expiwell.com to learn more about our platform and app.
Reference:
Nguyen, T. T., Konu, D., & Forbes, S. (2024). Investigating solitude as a tool for downregulation of daily arousal using ecological momentary assessments. Journal of Personality. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12939
