This study examined Weiss's conceptualization of social and emotional loneliness. Using data from an extensive survey of undergraduate and graduate students ...
Copyright 1984 by the American Psychological Association, Inc.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1984, Vol. 46, No. 6, 1313-1321
Social and Emotional Loneliness: An Examination of Weiss's Typology of Loneliness Dan Russell, Carolyn E. Cutrona, Jayne Rose, and Karen Yurko College of Medicine, University of Iowa This study examined Weiss's conceptualization of social and emotional loneliness. Using data from an extensive survey of undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Iowa, we measured social and emotional loneliness, students' affective and behavioral reactions to loneliness, students' social relationships, and their judgments of the degree to which their relationships supply the six social provisions described by Weiss. As expected, we found differences in the subjective experiences of social and emotional loneliness, although both forms of loneliness were also characterized by a common core of experiences. The results generally supported Weiss's ideas concerning the determinants of social and emotional loneliness. Predictions concerning the affective and behavioral consequences associated with each type of loneliness, however, were only partly supported, although the two forms of loneliness were associated with different affective reactions and coping behaviors. The implications of these findings for Weiss's typology of loneliness are discussed.
In recent years there has been a ground swell of interest by psychologists in the concept of loneliness. Loneliness has been linked both to physical illness (Lynch, 1976) and to a number of serious mental health problems, including alcoholism (Bell, 1956), suicide (Wenz, 1977), and depression (Bragg, 1979; Cutrona, 1981; Peplau, Russell, & Heim, 1979; Weeks, Michela, Peplau, & Bragg, 1980). Laboratory studies of the social behavior of lonely people have indicated social skills deficits (Jones, 1982), including negative views of self and others (Jones, Freemon,, & Goswick, 1981), unresponsiveness to others in social interactions (Jones, Hobbs, & Hockenberry, 1982), and inappropriate patterns of self-disclosure (Chelune, Sultan, & Williams, 1980; Solano, Batten, & Parish, 1982). These studies and others (see Peplau & Perlman, 1982a) suggest that loneliness is a meaningful psychological construct.
This research was supported in part by funds provided by the Student Development Program at the University of Iowa. The authors would like to thank Linda Dunlap for her assistance with data collection and Robert Weiss for his comments on an earlier version of this manuscript. Requests for reprints should be sent to Dan Russell, Graduate Program in Hospital and Health Administration, College of Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242.
But what is the nature of this construct? Researchers interested in the problem of loneliness have generally agreed on two characteristics of the loneliness experience (Peplau & Perlman, 1982b). First, loneliness is an aversive experience, similar to other negative affective states such as depression or anxiety. Second, research has shown that loneliness is distinct from social isolation and reflects an individual's subjective perception of deficiencies in his or her network of social relationships. These deficiencies may be quantitative (e.g., not enough friends) or they may be qualitative (e.g., lack of intimacy with others). Although there has been general agreement on these fundamental characteristics of the loneliness experience, researchers have not agreed upon the existence of different types or forms of loneliness (see Russell, 1982). One perspective holds that there is a common core of experiences that represents "loneliness." Thus commonalities should be found in the experiences of a lonely first-year college student and a lonely widow who has recently lost her mate. An alternative perspective is that two or more qualitatively distinct types of loneliness exist. This theoretical view would argue that the new student and the widow might both report that they are lonely, yet their subjective experiences of loneliness would be quite different.
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One typology of loneliness has been described by Weiss (1973, 1974). Weiss hypothesized that two distinct types of loneliness exist. Emotional loneliness results from the lack of a close, intimate attachment to another person. Individuals who have recently been divorced, widowed, or ended a dating relationship should experience this form of loneliness. Social loneliness results from the lack of a network of social relationships in which the person is part of a group of friends who share common interests and activities. Individuals who have recently moved to a new social environment (e.g., to a new city, job, or college) should experience this form of loneliness. Underlying Weiss's typology of loneliness is his belief that different types of relationships meet different interpersonal needs or offer different "social provisions" (Weiss, 1974). Thus when a particular relationship is lost, the interpersonal deficit experienced by the person depends on the social provisions that were supplied by that relationship. Weiss identified six social provisions: (a) attachment, provided by relationships in which the person receives a sense of safety and security; (b) social integration, provided by a network of relationships in which individuals share interests and concerns; (c) opportunity for nurturance, derived from relationships in which the person feels responsible for the well-being of another; (d) reassurance of worth, provided by relationships in which the person's skills and abilities are acknowledged; (e) reliable alliance, derived from relationships in which the person can count on assistance under any circumstances; and (f) guidance, provided by relationships with trustworthy and authoritative individuals who can provide advice and assistance. Although the associations between the provisions and specific relationship categories are not absolute, Weiss has identified the most typical sources of each social provision. Attachment is provided most often by a spouse or romantic partner. Social integration is provided by friendships. Children offer the opportunity for nurturance, whereas co-workers are a source of reassurance of worth. Reliable alliance is most often provided by close family members, and guidance comes from teachers, mentors, or parental figures. Weiss (1974) speculated that deficiencies in
each of the provisions may lead to a different kind of distress; however, he concentrated primarily on the provisions of attachment and social integration. Deficits in attachment are linked to emotional loneliness, and deficits in social integration are linked to social loneliness. Weiss further hypothesized that the subjective experiences and behaviors that result from these two types of loneliness are qualitatively distinct in several respects. Emotional loneliness leads to feelings of anxiety and isolation. According to Weiss (1973), the emotionally lonely person is ". . . forever appraising others for their potential as providers of the needed relationship. . ." (p. 21). Social loneliness is characterized by feelings of boredom, aimlessness, and marginality. The socially lonely person is driven to "find the kinds of activities he or she can participate in, the network or group that will accept him or her as a member" (p. 22). Not only do emotional and social loneliness differ phenomenologically, but according to Weiss (1973) they also require different remediations. Relief from emotional loneliness requires formation of a new intimate relationship that provides a sense of attachment, whereas relief from social loneliness requires entry into a network of friendships that provides a sense of social integration. An increase in the supply of a social provision other than the one that is lacking cannot play a compensatory role. Several previous studies have reported evidence consistent with Weiss's conceptualization (Brennan & Auslander, 1979; Rubenstein & Shaver, 1982; Shaver & Rubenstein, 1980). However, interpreting the results of these studies is complicated by the fact that direct assessments of social and emotional loneliness were not used. In addition, other variables that Weiss has emphasized (such as the social provisions) were not assessed. The purpose of the current research was to examine more systematically Weiss's typology of loneliness. We tried to determine whether people actually distinguish between social and emotional loneliness and whether the two forms of loneliness differ in the subjective experiences associated with them, their antecedents, and their emotional and behavioral consequences. Differences in the subjective experiences associated with these two forms
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of loneliness were examined by computing correlations between the reports of social and emotional loneliness and responses on the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) Loneliness Scale (Russell, Peplau, & Cutrona, 1980). Both objective deficiencies in various categories of relationships and perceived deficiencies in relational provisions were examined as predictors of social and emotional loneliness. Anxiety, depression, and coping behaviors were examined as differential consequences of the two types of loneliness.
Table 1 Distribution of the Sample by College Class
Class
N
% of sample
Freshmen Sophomores Juniors Seniors Graduate
112
22.2 22.0 21.0 18.0 16.8
111 106
91 85
Note. A comparison of the sample frequencies within each class to the expected frequency of 101 (20% of the total N) indicated there were no significant differences, X2(4, N = 505) = 5.96, ns.
Method ferent, respondents also completed the revised UCLA Loneliness Scale (Russell et al., 1980). This measure conData were gathered from a broad sample of college sists of 20 statements, half of which are descriptive of students at the University of Iowa. Extensive questionnaires feelings of loneliness and half of which are descriptive of were mailed to 1,000 students in the spring of 1980. Two feelings of nonloneliness or satisfaction with social relahundred members of each class (freshmen, sophomores, tionships. A number of studies have used this measure, juniors, seniors, and graduate students) were randomly with good evidence provided of the scale's reliability and selected and sent questionnaires. The return rate for com- validity (Russell, 1982; Russell ei al., 1980). It should be pleted questionnaires was approximately 50%, with SOS noted that items for the UCLA Loneliness Scale were questionnaires returned. This return rate is quite high for originally derived from reports of lonely people concerning a mail survey, particularly because we conducted no follow- the experience of loneliness. Thus this scale appears to be a good criterion for testing differences in the subjective up mailings. The final sample was fairly evenly divided among the experiences of social and emotional loneliness. Social provisions. To assess how well the student's curcollege classes (see Table 1). A sampling bias did apparently occur in terms of sex, with more women returning ques- rent social relationships supplied the student with the protionnaires than men (55% vs. 45%). At the time of the visions described by Weiss (1974), the Social Provisions survey, the student population for the University of Iowa Scale was administered.1 This measure consists of 12 items, as a whole consisted of 48% women and 52% men. The with 2 items measuring each provision. One member of difference between the sample distribution and the pop- each pair of items is stated positively, and the other member ulation distribution by sex was statistically significant, x2U, is stated negatively. For example, the items assessing the attachment provision are "I have close relationships that N = 505) = 10.30, p < .005. provide me with a sense of emotional security and wellbeing" and "I lack a feeling of intimacy with another Measures person." In completing the Social Provisions Scale, the Loneliness. On the basis of Weiss's (1973) definitions, students indicated on a 9-point scale how true each statetwo items were developed to assess students' experiences ment was concerning their current social relationships. of social and emotional loneliness. We described social For scoring purposes, the negative items were reversed and summed'together with the positive items to form a score loneliness by the following statement: for each social provision.2 Thus a high score indicated A possible type of loneliness involves not belonging to that the respondent was receiving that provision from his a group or social network. While this may be a set of or her current social relationships. friends who engage in social activities together, it can Concerning the validity of this measure, Cutrona (in be any group that provides a feeling of belonging based press) found in a study of first-time mothers that the proon shared concerns, work or other activities. visions of reliable alliance, reassurance of worth, social integration, and guidance were predictive of postpartum We described emotional loneliness by this statement: depression; women who lacked these provisions during A possible type of loneliness is the lack of an intense, pregnancy were more likely to become depressed after the relatively enduring relationship with one other person. birth of their child. Further supporting the validity of the While this relationship is often romantic, it can be any Social Provisions Scale, Cutrona (1982) reported in a study one-to-one relationship that provides feelings of affection of first-year college students that the social integration, and security.
Sample
Following each of these statements, students rated on a 9point scale how intensely they were experiencing each type of loneliness. In order to examine whether the subjective experiences associated with social and emotional loneliness are dif-
1
A copy of the Social Provisions Scale is available from the first author. 2 The correlations between the two items measuring each social provision ranged from —.33 to —.56.
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reassurance of worth, and guidance provisions were all significantly related to scores on the UCLA Loneliness Scale. In combination, deficits in these three social provisions accounted for 66% of the variance in loneliness scores. Social relationships. We assessed each student's current social network, including their friendships, romantic/dating relationships, and family relationships. For friendships, the students were asked to indicate (separately for close and casual friends) (a) how many friends they had at the time of assessment, and (b) how often they had done something socially with a friend in the previous two weeks. A summary score was derived from these four measures of current friendships, with an alpha coefficient of .66. Concerning romantic/dating relationships, the students indicated (a) how intimate their present romantic relationships were, (b) how often they had been on a date in the previous 2 weeks, and (c) their present romantic/dating status (e.g., dating casually, dating steadily). The alpha coefficient for this summary score was .82. For family relationships the students were asked to indicate (a) how many family members they felt close to, (b) how close they were to their family in general, and (c) how often they had seen or talked to a family member in the previous 2 weeks. This measure yielded an alpha coefficient of .59. In order to measure subjective satisfaction with their social relationships, students first rated their global satisfaction with each type of relationship. Next, they rated how much better or worse their current relationships in each category were than those of other students their age. Finally, they rated how much better or worse their current relationships in each category were in contrast to one year ago. The alpha coefficient for the summary satisfaction scores ranged from .78 to .92 for the three relationship categories. Depression and anxiety. To assess feelings of depression and anxiety, we administered the Costello-Comrey Depression and Anxiety Scales (Costello & Comrey, 1967). These scales were originally developed to yield factorially "pure" measures of the respective constructs while minimizing the intercorrelation between the depression and anxiety subscales. Split-half reliabilities of .90 for the depression scale (14 items) and .70 for the anxiety scale (9 items) have been reported. The anxiety and depression intercorrelations were .40 for males and .50 for females. Validity for the two scales was indicated by relationships with clinical diagnoses and other measures of anxiety and depression. Russell et al. (1980) reported that scores on the UCLA Loneliness Scale correlated .32 with the anxiety measure and .55 with the depression measure. Coping with loneliness. To test predictions about how the socially lonely and the emotionally lonely person attempts to deal with loneliness, we administered a 24-item coping measure. The items on this questionnaire were based on free-response data gathered from lonely college students concerning how they attempted to deal with their loneliness. Respondents in the present study were asked to reflect on their experiences of loneliness during the previous year and indicate on a 9-point scale how often they had used the coping technique described in each item. A preliminary factor analysis3 of responses to this measure indicated five reliable factors (i.e., eigenvalues greater than 1.0). Following a varimax rotation of the extracted
factors, items were selected to represent each factor on the basis of having loadings greater than .40 in magnitude. Responses to the selected items were then summed together to form a score for each factor. On the basis of the interpretation of each factor, these factor scores were labeled as follows: (a) self-enhancing behaviors, involving behaviors designed to raise the person's self-esteem, such as "doing something you are good at" or "thinking about good qualities you possess" (5 items, alpha coefficient = .83); (b) behavioral problem solving, involving actions such as "trying to do things to meet new people" or "doing something to make yourself a more outgoing person" that are designed to alleviate loneliness (5 items, alpha coefficient = .85); (c) redefining problem, consisting of cognitions designed to minimize the experience of loneliness such as "telling yourself that your loneliness will not last forever" or "reminding yourself that you do have good relationships with other people" (4 items, alpha coefficient = .77); (d) distraction, involving activities designed to keep the person from thinking about his or her loneliness, such as "taking your mind off feeling lonely through some mental activity" or "deliberately thinking about other things" (3 items, alpha coefficient = .70); and (e) cognitive problem solving, consisting of thinking about how to overcome loneliness, such as "trying to figure out why you are lonely" or "thinking about things you could do to overcome loneliness" (3 items, alpha coefficient = .80).
Results Analyses of the data focused on three basic issues. First, are there differences in the subjective experiences associated with social and emotional loneliness? Second, what aspects of the person's social relationships are predictive of social and emotional loneliness? Third, what consequences do social and emotional loneliness have for the person's emotional state and coping behavior?4 Subjective Experience of Social and Emotional Loneliness The first issue that was examined concerned the relation between the measures of social and emotional loneliness. Because the two forms of loneliness were assessed by separate scales, it was possible that social and emotional loneliness would be positively correlated. On the other hand, if the two forms of loneliness 3
Copies of the complete factor analysis results and the coping measure are available from the first author. 4 Initial analyses indicated that the sex of the respondent did not mediate any of the relationships that are reported. Therefore, sex was dropped as a variable in subsequent analyses.
SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL LONELINESS
constitute a typology, we would expect the two measures to be largely independent of one another, This second prediction was confirmed. A small, significant correlation between social and emotional loneliness was found, r(494) = .17,/j
