Loneliness is contagious.

   That's the dispiriting finding from a researcher at the University of Chicago who traced how feelings of isolation spread through a person's social circle.

   The "Chicago Tribune" reports that John Cacioppo's findings add to previous studies that show how happiness, smoking and even obesity fan out in social networks.

   Cacioppo says a person can transmit his or her feelings of loneliness through personal contact, over the phone or online.
   After a while, people who feel isolated find it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy as friends stop trying to reconnect.

   The study found that women are more likely to sense a friend's loneliness and be affected by it than men.

   Cacioppo's findings are published in the "Journal of Personality and Social Psychology."



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