A MULTIDIMENSIONAL-ANALYSIS OF THE EXPERIENCE OF LONELINESS

The current series of studies applies a phenomenological-structural method for the description of verbal reports of loneliness states. In Study 1, lay persons freely described the causes, feelings and responses related to a particular loneliness episode they had experienced. The different subjects' statements were then listed by two judges and were subjected to cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling. Subjects in Study 2 received a self-report questionnaire including the feelings listed in Study 1 and their answers were also subjected to multidimensional analysis. Subjects in Study 3 received the clusters of loneliness feelings disclosed in Study 1 and were required to estimate their conjoint probability of occurrence, Findings revealed four subtypes of loneliness and delineated their cognitive, emotional, motivational and behavioral components. In addition, the disclosed structure of loneliness was replicated in the three reported studies. The contribution of the findings to the understanding of the experience of loneliness and to the refinement of earlier theoretical conceptions and disputes was discussed. © 1990, Sage Publications. All rights reserved.