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Trends in theory and in research in the field of personal and social relationships seem to go their separate ways. This article describes a research programme which explicitly tries to integrate these two fields. Attention is paid in particular to two programme facets: (1) ideas on concept analysis, the operationalization process, measuring models and measuring instruments, including a detailed example of the development of a loneliness measuring instrument according to the so-called Rasch model; and (2) the cumulative development of a causal explanatory loneliness model which is based on cognitive theory. On-going projects investigating certain aspects of the explanatory model are also dealt with.
J. de Jong-Gierveld (Mon,) studied this question.