THE BENEFITS OF POSITIVE SOLITUDE IN LATE LIFE

Abstract Positive solitude is the capacity to choose spending time by yourself in a positive manner. This session provides a wide glance on the advantage of this capacity at the second half of life. The session will try to present new theoretical perspectives regarding this capacity. The lectures will give an opportunity to follow the directions in which research in this new field is being developed. The first lecture by Palgi will describe the theoretical background for the study of positive solitude, and will provide new findings from the positive solitude scale that was lately develop by the authors. The second presentation by Bodner will describe how emotional regulation through music moderates the relationship between mindfulness and positive solitude. The third lecture by Zambrano Garza is contributing to the understanding of solitude in the interpersonal domain. Based on dyadic diary study, demonstrates that more voluntary solitude was associated with more positive affect of the partner and more negative solitude was related to more negative affect of partner. The forth lecture by Segel-Karpas will focus on the contribution of positive solitude and loneliness on negative aspects of mental health. Finally, the fifth presentation, by Jennifer Lay, will show use natural language processing to identify solitude experiences from older adults’ reports. We will conclude the session by discussing future research directives for the implementation of positive solitude in the field of gerontology, such as the development of interventions that may enhance the tendency for positive solitude in old age.


THE BENEFITS OF POSITIVE SOLITUDE IN LATE LIFE
Chair: Yuval Palgi Co-Chair: Ehud Bodner Discussant: Dikla Segel-Karpas Positive solitude is the capacity to choose spending time by yourself in a positive manner.This session provides a wide glance on the advantage of this capacity at the second half of life.The session will try to present new theoretical perspectives regarding this capacity.The lectures will give an opportunity to follow the directions in which research in this new field is being developed.The first lecture by Palgi will describe the theoretical background for the study of positive solitude, and will provide new findings from the positive solitude scale that was lately develop by the authors.The second presentation by Bodner will describe how emotional regulation through music moderates the relationship between mindfulness and positive solitude.The third lecture by Zambrano Garza is contributing to the understanding of solitude in the interpersonal domain.Based on dyadic diary study, demonstrates that more voluntary solitude was associated with more positive affect of the partner and more negative solitude was related to more negative affect of partner.The forth lecture by Segel-Karpas will focus on the contribution of positive solitude and loneliness on negative aspects of mental health.Finally, the fifth presentation, by Jennifer Lay, will show use natural language processing to identify solitude experiences from older adults' reports.We will conclude the session by discussing future research directives for the implementation of positive solitude in the field of gerontology, such as the development of interventions that may enhance the tendency for positive solitude in old age.

TIME BY YOURSELF: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND FINDINGS FROM THE NEW POSITIVE SOLITUDE QUESTIONNAIRE
Yuval Palgi 1 , Dikla Segel-Karpas 1 , Sharon Ost Mor 1 , Yaakov Hoffman 2 , and Ehud Bodner 3 , 1. University of Haifa,Haifa,Hefa,Israel,2. Bar Ilan University,Ramat Gan,HaMerkaz,Israel,3. Bar Ilan University,Tel Aviv,Tel Aviv,Israel The present study describes the development of a new questionnaire for measuring positive solitude.First we will discuss the conceptualization of positive solitude, and refer to the contradictions that exist in the literature regarding this concept.We will then present the theoretical background on which we based our questionnaire, and some empirical findings regarding its utility.We will describe the 9-item tool and its relationships to positive and negative measures of well-being and mental health.Furthermore, we will discuss findings from a Holocaust survivors study showing the role of positive solitude on posttraumatic symptoms.We will conclude this presentation by discussing several future directives, some of which that will be discussed in other presentations of this symposium.

EMOTION REGULATION THROUGH MUSIC AND MINDFULNESS ARE RELATED TO POSITIVE SOLITUDE
Ehud Bodner 1 , Yuval Palgi 2 , and Noa Bachman 2 , 1. Bar Ilan University, Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel, 2. University of Haifa, Haifa, Hefa, Israel Mindfulness and emotion regulation through music listening are skills that share some attributes with the skill of positive solitude (PS; defined as an inner choice to dedicate time to a meaningful, enjoyable activity or experience managed by oneself, with or without the presence of others).Nevertheless, little is known about their relationship with PS in the second half of life.Hence, we recruited a convenience sample of community-dwelling adults in the second half of life (N = 123; M = 68.63,SD = 10.99), who completed self-report measures of demographics, emotion regulation through music, mindfulness, and PS.A hierarchical linear regression demonstrated significant positive associations between emotion regulation through music listening and PS, and between mindfulness and PS.Moreover, age moderated the relationship between mindfulness and PS.This relationship was found to be positive and significant only among older adults.These findings support the study's hypotheses and emphasize the contribution of the current research to developmental research on PS in the second half of life.

THE MODERATING ROLE OF POSITIVE SOLITUDE IN THE RELATIONS BETWEEN LONELINESS AND DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS
Dikla Segel-Karpas 1 , Yuval Palgi 1 , Sharon Ost Mor 1 , Yaira Hamama Raz 2 , Mayan Shacham 2 , Menachem Ben-Ezra 2 , and Lee Greenblatt Kimron 2 , 1. University of Haifa,Haifa,Hefa,Israel,2. Ariel University,Ariel,HaMerkaz,Israel Positive solitude, the choice of being alone to engage in meaningful inner or physical, spiritual, mental, or cognitive activity/ experience, was recently suggested as a stand-alone phenomenon differentiated from loneliness and negative solitude.As loneliness was previously found to have adverse implications for mental health, the present study examined whether the ability to engage in positive solitude can moderate the harmful effect of loneliness on depressive symptoms.The sample consisted of 520 community dwelling older adults in Israel aged [68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75][76][77][78][79][80][81][82][83][84][85][86][87].Participants answered an online questionnaire through a survey company (Ipanel) assessing their background characteristics, depressive symptoms, loneliness, and positive solitude.The results show that loneliness was positively associated with depressive symptoms, whereas positive solitude was negatively associated with depressive symptoms.Furthermore, positive solitude moderated the relationship between loneliness and depressive symptoms, such that higher levels of positive solitude weakened this association.The findings indicate that positive solitude may serve as a buffering factor for mental health among older adults by augmenting coping with the adverse outcomes of loneliness.The results provide insight for tailoring future treatment interventions focusing on positive solitude to enhance mental health among older adults.

SOLITUDE LINKS WITH INDIVIDUAL AND RELATIONAL WELL-BEING: EVIDENCE FROM DYADIC DAILY LIFE ASSESSMENTS
Elizabeth Zambrano Garza 1 , Rachel Murphy 1 , Maureen Ashe 1 , Kenneth Madden 1 , Denis Gerstorf 2 , Christiane Hoppmann 1 , and Theresa Pauly 3 , 1. University of British Columbia,Vancouver,British Columbia,Canada,2. Humboldt University of Berlin,Berlin,Berlin,Germany,3. Simon Fraser University,Vancouver,British Columbia,Canada Solitude, defined as physical aloneness or the absence of social interactions, has been associated with both positive and negative outcomes.Older adults spend a significant amount of their waking time by themselves (exacerbated during the pandemic), but they may be better equipped to regulate the negative emotions that are often linked with being alone.Additionally, solitude may provide a balance between social connectedness and autonomous needs.Using pandemic, end-of-day daily diary data across 10 days from 136 older Canadian adults and a close other of their choice (59% spouses, M = 66.49years, SD = 13.26range: 18-87 years, 88% White, 62% women), this project aims to examine associations of actor and partner solitude with relationship quality and daily affect.Multilevel models revealed that participants who reported more voluntary solitude experienced more daily positive affect and those who reported more negative solitude experienced both more negative affect and less positive affect at both daily and overall levels.We also found daily partner effects such that more voluntary solitude of the partner was associated with less actor negative affect and negative solitude of the partner being associated with less actor positive affect and more negative affect over and above actor effects.Finally, when partners reported more voluntary solitude, participants reported higher relationship support.Findings shed light on the benefits and drawbacks of how solitude is experienced in older adulthood, highlighting the influence social partners affect quality and relationship satisfaction.