Henrique Pereira
Loneliness among older men may remain unrecognized when unwanted relational disconnection is not explicitly named as loneliness. This qualitative longitudinal, multimethod study examined how 32 community-dwelling men aged 60 years and older in Lisbon, Portugal, experienced, interpreted, and communicated relational disconnection between January and July 2025. Data were generated through narrative life-history interviews, participant-generated photographic, audio, or written diaries, elicitation interviews, and follow-up interviews. Six interrelated themes were developed and interpreted processually as disruptions and absences, forms of disconnection, identity-protective meaning-making, and responses. The analysis distinguished topics deliberately elicited by the design from empirical refinements and unanticipated temporal or material insights. The four processes initially used to sensitize inquiry-nonrecognition, linguistic substitution, identity protection, and relational concealment-were therefore not treated as discoveries; the data clarified their boundaries, interactions, and reversibility. Four longitudinal patterns were used as non-exclusive interpretive summaries rather than participant classifications. The most distinctive findings were that connection depended not only on contact but on relational consequentiality-being expected, needed, consulted, and able to contribute-and that greater willingness to name loneliness could reflect interpretive change rather than worsening symptoms. Unnamed loneliness was inferred only where participants described unwanted relational disconnection; chosen and satisfying solitude was excluded. Responses should foster emotionally safe, reciprocal, and meaningful relationships while protecting autonomy.