International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, Vol. 7, No.

1, January 2017

Effect of Loneliness on the Psychological Well-Being of

College Students
Revati K. Bhagchandani

Some people enjoy solitude. Tillich (1959) has stated that

Abstract—Loneliness is becoming a fast growing problem “Solitude expresses the glory of being alone, whereas,
among the youth nowadays. There are various reasons that are Loneliness expresses the pain of feeling alone.” Larson
responsible for loneliness, discussed in this paper. The present (1997) in his description of the differences between
study investigates the effect of loneliness on the psychological
well-being of college going students. The data was collected on
loneliness and solitude has explained that ‘solitude’ is to be
101 college students who were divided into two groups i.e. segregated from others easily, while, ‘loneliness’ is
Males and Females. They were required to fill a questionnaire choosing to be alone.
through e-mail that had 2 parts. The first part was Ryff’s
questionnaire of psychological well-being and the second part B. Types of Loneliness
was UCLA loneliness scale. The findings of the research Interpersonal Loneliness: This is the result of losing a
revealed that there is a significant negative relationship significant, or intimate, relationship. When there is a loss of
between loneliness and psychological well-being. Also, the a significant person in one’s life, that person starts feeling
difference between males and females regarding both
loneliness and psychological well-being did not come out to be
alone in between a crowd. This may include the loss of a
significant. spouse after divorce due to unstable marriage or due to
unfortunate circumstances like death.
Index Terms—Loneliness, psychological well-being, college Social Loneliness. This is where a person is on the fringes
students. of a group, excluded from a group, or is actively rejected.
This also includes physical absence of meaningful people
I. INTRODUCTION around a person and withdrawal from social circles.
Cultural Loneliness. This is where a person belongs to a
A. Loneliness
different culture and feels that they don’t fit, or belong, in
Loneliness is a part of the human condition that affects all the new culture.
ages. It is a subjective negative feeling related to the Intellectual Loneliness. This is where a person
person’s own experience of deficient social relations. A intellectually, or educationally remains out of synch with
sense of loneliness is associated with an individual’s their peers, their family or their social group.
evaluation of their overall level of social interaction and
Psychological loneliness. This is where a person has
describes as a deficit between the actual and desired quality
experienced a trauma that separates them out from others
and quantity of social engagement [1]. Loneliness can be a
around them.
reaction to the lack of social relations one needs or even
though one has the social relations but they are not intimate Existential or cosmic Loneliness. This is an isolating
or satisfying according to the needs or they lack sincerity loneliness experienced by a person who is facing death.
and emotions in them. Human beings are said to actively C. Psychological Well-Being
engage each other and the universe as they communicate,
Interest in the area of psychological well-being and
and loneliness is merely the feeling of being cut off from
positive mental health seems to have peaked between the
this process [2].
The most broadly accepted definition of loneliness is the late 1950’s and 1970’s. Psychological well-being is a multi-
distress that results from discrepancies between ideal and dimensional concept. After factor analysis it was revealed
perceived social relationships. While common definitions of that cheerfulness, optimism, playfulness, self-control, a
loneliness describe it as a state of solitude or being alone, sense of detachment and freedom from frustration, anxiety
loneliness is actually a state of mind. It causes people to feel and loneliness are indicators of psychological well-being.
empty, alone and unwanted. People who are lonely often (Tellegen, 1979; Sinha and Verma, 1992) to manage
crave human contact, but their state of mind makes it more tensions and negative A person who has a high degree of
difficult to form connections with other people. Loneliness psychological well-being, excels in all fields, carries higher
has always been considered as a common problem among levels of satisfaction and self-esteem and is able thoughts
the older people, but today it is becoming more of a concern about oneself or others. It emphasizes positive
amongst the young people. (Mental health Foundation, characteristics of growth and development. In recent times
2010).Loneliness is a subjective experience. That means psychologists and social scientists have conducted surveys
that if one thinks that they are lonely then they will feel to measure psychological well-being and subjective well-
lonely. Everybody who is alone is not necessarily lonely. being among people. Psychological well-being generally
means how people evaluate their own life. It means a
person’s own perspective regarding their social life,
Manuscript received July 1, 2015; revised August 1, 2016. relationships, job satisfaction etc. According to Diener
Revati K. Bhagchandani is with Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University,
India (e-mail: [email protected]). (1997), these evaluations can be from two perspectives i.e.

doi: 10.18178/ijssh.2017.7.1.796 60
 International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, Vol. 7, No. 1, January 2017

Cognitive and Affective. The Cognitive evaluation includes research have shown how social media affects a person’s
information based appraisal. This means that the evaluation well-being. They have shown that social networking sites
is mostly fact based, about the amount of satisfaction that a can be one of the causes of loneliness. Facebook has
person has with his current life status. The Affective reduced interconnectedness with the community among
evaluation is the indulgent kind. It is mostly a feelings based introverts. The relationship between internet usage as a
evaluation. This kind of evaluation includes how many factor of loneliness was also studied by other researchers.
times a person experiences the feelings of happiness and They reported that high level of internet usage resulted in a
sadness. The assumption behind this is that people give a lot decrease in social loneliness i.e, on the social networking
of importance to good and bad; and hence, they evaluate sites and it resulted in an increase in emotional loneliness i.e
their life in the same way i.e. good or bad. intimate relationships (Moody). The findings of this
research showed that there was a relationship between
facebook and a person’s psychological well-being.
II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE Spending a lot of time on facebook affected self esteem
negatively. Those students who had a low self esteem tend
The purpose of the present research is to find out the
to use social networking sites more because that helps
effect of loneliness on psychological well-being among
him/her in increasing their social capital (Ellison et.al.).
college students. There have been various researches on
Apart from this, the first year students who had many
psychological well-being and loneliness; some of them are
facebook friends reported low levels of adjustment and
mentioned here bellow:
interpersonal communication in college. Adjusting well in a
Ref. [3] Rezan and Fulya (2007) conducted a research on
new environment shows a person’s strong emotional
268 university students to determine how university
construct. It is possible that a person has many friends on
students’ loneliness is predicted by their high level of
facebook in the first year, so that he/she feels a part of the
psychological well-being. The result that they derived from
in-group. It was also found that lack of adjustment also
the analysis was that psychological well-being was one of
affected the academic performance of the students. The
the main factors of predicting loneliness. There is close
findings revealed two trends. The first one was that, first
relationship between loneliness and positive relations with
year students who have many friends on facebook affects
other people. In this particular literature, emphasis was laid
their self esteem negatively, academic performance becomes
on linking loneliness with poorer social skills, introversion
poor, adjustment quality becomes poor and interpersonal
and lack of social support. The second predictor that they
communication becomes difficult. The second trend was the
found of loneliness was the ‘purpose on life’ dimension of
amount of time spent online also affected a person’s well-
psychological well-being. Being clear about one’s purpose
being.
in life brings harmony and peace of mind in one’s life. They
Ref. [6] Doman and Roux in the year (2011), conducted a
derived that persons suffering from loneliness were not
cross-cultural study on the relationship between loneliness
happy with life due to different kinds of psychological
and psychological well-being. The study was conducted in
problems they go through, like, anxiety, depression, social
South Africa, which is a multicultural developing country.
isolation, loneliness etc. The people who had failed to
The purpose of this study was to check the effects of
determine their purpose in past or in the present go through
political systems, failed leadership, high incidence of child
high levels of loneliness. Out of the six dimension of
abuse, rape, sexual molestation, incest, violence and crime
psychological well-being, ‘purpose in life’ contributed as an
on young adults. Its aim was to include these young adults
important predictor of loneliness.
into studies of loneliness and psychological well-being. The
Ref. [4] Seygin, Akdeniz and Deniz (2015), studied that
target population was students from different cultures at the
loneliness affects a person’s well-being to a great extent.
University of Free State and the research was done in a non-
The research based findings showed that interpersonal
experimental method. The non-experimental hypothesis
problem solving and loneliness are significant predictors of
testing research was used to divide the groups according to
subjective well-being. One aspect of the finding shows that
criteria. Questionnaire used for loneliness was a self
when there is lack of interpersonal problem solving skill it
designed one i.e. The Le Roux Loneliness Questionnaire
lessens the levels of subjective well-being. It was also seen
and the Psychological general well-being index. The results
that self-confidence decreases and negativity increases.
that were derived from the research were, that, depression
Researchers have found that interpersonal problem solving
and a sense of positive well-being affect loneliness
positively correlates with well-being in terms of
significantly. They found out that the relationship between
constructive problem solving. Another very important
loneliness and psychological well-being is very significant.
finding was that loneliness as a predictor of subjective well-
This means that students with high psychological well-being
being is very significant. This means that the higher the
experienced lesser degree of loneliness while students with
subjective well-being levels, the lower the loneliness and
low psychological well-being experience loneliness to a
the lower the subjective well-being levels, the higher the
greater extent. The most important finding of this research
loneliness. The most important thing that they derived from
paper was the sub-scale of psychological well-being i.e.
their research was that when a person has a good ability of
depression and sense of positive well-being resulted as
solving interpersonal problems, he/she becomes happier.
major causes of loneliness.
Finding solutions to one’s problems lessens the hardships
Ref. [7] Kumar (2014), studied the relationship between
and increases well-being.
pro-social behavior and psychological well-being among
Ref. [5] Kalpidou, Costin and Morris, (2011), in their
adolescents of 14 to 16 years. The tests used were Ryff’s

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 International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, Vol. 7, No. 1, January 2017

psychological well-being scale and pro-social tendencies population that they chose was 320 participants of 60-85
measure (Carlo and Randall, 2002). The results that were years. They divided the data into two groups, 160 old people
derived from this revealed that psychological well-being is who lived with families and 160 old people who lived alone.
positively correlated with pro-social behavior. He found out The tests that they used were UCLA for loneliness (1996)
that the dimensions of psychological well-being i.e. and BDI (1996) to determine the existence of depression
Autonomy, Environmental Mastery, Personal growth, and loneliness. They found out that depression and
Positive relations and Purpose in life are positively loneliness were positively correlated. The old people who
correlated with the dimensions of Pro-social behavior i.e. lived with a family had positive correlation and the old
Public, Anonymous, Dire, Emotional, Complaint and people who lived alone had a negative correlation. Both the
Altruism. Both the variables are positively related to each groups had significant differences regarding loneliness and
other. A person with higher pro-social behavior has higher depression.
psychological well-being and vice-versa. Jahan and Khan in the year, (2014) [12], conducted a
The present generation is very easily exposed to vast study on persons above 65 years of age from different cities
information on the internet. The academic pressure is and old-age homes in India. The purpose of this study was
increasing nowadays, due to which competition among to study the effect of daily spiritual experiences on
peers, siblings and cousins, is increasing. Tiwari and Ojha psychological well-being of elderly people. The sample of
(2014) [8], conducted a study on adolescents of 15 to 19 200 was divided into 100 males and 100 females. Daily
years. The purpose of this study was to examine and spiritual experience scale and Ryff scale of psychological
compare various dimensions of general well-being and well-being were used. The findings of the research showed
emotional maturity among adolescents. The findings of the that daily spiritual experiences affected global psychological
study were that there is a significant difference between the well-being significantly. It was relevant for both categories
general well-being and emotional well-being of boys and i.e. elders who lived in old age homes and those who did not.
girls. Girls are emotionally more unstable than boys and Relationships with other people depend on daily spiritual
hence they tend to socialize less. However, later on they experience. It helps in enhancing our personal relationships
found out that girls have higher emotional well-being and with others.
boys have higher physical well-being. Major finding of this
study was that sex differences exist only in emotional and
physical well-being. III. RESULT AND DISCUSSION
Kim, LaRose and Peng (2009)[9] conducted a study
A. Sample
through which they found out that people who were going
through loneliness, or who did not have good social skills, The present study comprised of 101 college students out
developed a compulsive internet habit which had negative of which, there were 51 males and 49 females. The study
outcomes on their psychological well-being. They lagged was conducted on college students of 18-22 years of age and
behind in completing their daily responsibilities such as their mean age was calculated to be 20 years.
school, work, daily errands etc. They found that such B. Tools UCLA Loneliness Scale
negative activities led them more towards loneliness. The tool used to measure loneliness among the students
Although previous researches have proven that using the was the UCLA-R loneliness scale by Russell (1982). It is a
internet makes a person overcome loneliness to some extent 20 item scale with a four point rating scale ranging from
but this study found that it has more negative effects than Never to Always. The scores ranged from 20 (i.e. low level
positive. of loneliness) to 80 (i.e. high level of loneliness) showing
Jackson, Soderlind and Weiss (2000)[10], conducted a that higher the score higher the loneliness. High internal
research on college students of University of Wisconsin, to consistency has been reported with a coefficient alpha 94.
study the impact of specific personality traits and quality of
close relationships on loneliness. They collected data from C. Psychological Well-Being Scale
180 liberal arts students. The research was divided on the The tool used to measure psychological well-being
basis of timeline. They were asked to fill self report among the college students was Ryff’s Psychological well-
measures about optimism, shyness, social support and being scale (Ryff and Keyes, 1995). This scale consists of
loneliness and they were called back again after 6 weeks to eighteen items rated on five-point Likert scale ranging from
complete the same measures. The results showed that lower 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree), giving a potential
levels of optimism before 6 weeks predicted a high level of range of 18-90. Out of eighteen itmes, six items are reverse
loneliness after 6 weeks. Participants, who were shy and scored. The scores of the items that correspond to the
unsupported, reported higher levels of loneliness as negative poles are reversed prior to calculating the total
compared to other students. score, so that the higher the total scores, the higher the level
Depression and loneliness are two very important of reported well-being. The reliability of the instrument is
phenomenon of a person’s life that affects both physical as 0.89.
well as mental health. Each person in their life, go through
D. Procedure
feelings of loneliness or symptoms of depression at some
point in their life, but their occurrence in the old age can be The questionnaire was divided into two parts in Google
very dangerous for the individual. Vijayshri and Farooqui forms. Part one consisted of the UCLA-R Scale and part
(2014) [11], conducted a research to determine the two consisted of psychological well-being scale.
relationship between depression and loneliness. The target Instructions about the demographic information and how to

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 International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, Vol. 7, No. 1, January 2017

fill up the questionnaire were mentioned in the that, higher the loneliness, lower the psychological well-
questionnaire itself. The questionnaire was then circulated being.
among university students via email and then the responses A number of studies have been carried out by various
were collected. researchers that exhibit an inverse relationship between
loneliness and psychological well-being. In a study by
E. Statistical Analysis Rezan and Fulya (2007) it was found that lack of knowledge
Descriptive analysis and Pearson correlation were carried about one’s own life leads to low psychological well-being
out using SPSS package. and loneliness. Also people suffering from loneliness were
Well-being means living one’s life happily. It is the not found happy with life due to the psychological problems
feeling of being satisfied with one’s own life and to be that they were facing like anxiety, social isolation and
happy about their achievements. Psychological well-being is loneliness.
very important for a person to stay mentally healthy. A In another study by Lim and Kua (2011), it was observed
person with high psychological well-being has the ability to that elder people who lived alone had a poor mental health
work wonders for themselves. High level of psychological status and quality than compared to those who lived with
well-being shows that a person is at peace with himself and others. Due to lack of social integration, loneliness prevailed
others, which is very important. Today’s world has become in elders who lived all by themselves. Loneliness has a great
highly competitive for the youth. There is a constant race impact on elders’ psychological well-being. These
going on about achieving the first place and becoming the researchers found out that those elders who felt that their
best. In such circumstances it becomes difficult for some children have not been able to meet their unfulfilled needs
young adults to cope with their families’ expectations and are affected more negatively than other elders. There have
sometimes their own. This leads some students to suffer been many studies carried out on student populations also,
from problems like social isolation and loneliness. that depicts how loneliness affects their psychological well-
Psychological well-being helps in removing the feeling of being. According to Doman and Roux (2011) a higher rate
loneliness. When a person is psychologically healthy, he/she of negative things around a person, it affects their
feels good about oneself. It helps in enhancing social psychological well-being and leads them to loneliness, i.e.
relationships with others which in turn lowers the degree of when the psychological well-being is low, the degree of
loneliness. Psychological well-being enhances positive loneliness increases dramatically.
relationships with others and helps in coping with loneliness. In another study by Gross, Juvonen and Gable (2002), the
The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of results showed that the students who had friends in school
loneliness on the psychological well-being among college and outside school, used the internet to build better
students. The results that were derived from the study are relationships with them, and the ones who were socially
discussed below. isolated, lonely and those who found it difficult to
communicate with others face to face, used the internet to
TABLE I: MEANS AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL build relationships with known or unknown people. The
WELL-BEING AND LONELINESS
study showed that such kind of people who are lonely in the
VAriable Mean SD
real world and try to seek comfort in the virtual world
affects their well-being negatively. Hence, this study also
Psychological proved that the more they use the internet to find social
63.45 6.47
well-being
relations, the more negatively it will affect their
Loneliness 39.44 8.80 psychological well-being.

TABLE III: GROUP (GENDER) DIFFERENCES: T-TEST

Table I, shows the mean and the standard deviation T df Sig. (2-tailed)
values of the two variables that was calculated through Psychological well- -.666 99 .507
SPSS. Psychological well-being has a mean of 63.45 and a being
Loneliness 1.567 99 .120
standard deviation of 6.47. Loneliness has a mean of 39.44
and a standard deviation of 8.80.
Table III shows that there is no significant difference
TABLE II: CORRELATIONS BETWEEN PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING AND between males and females on both the variables of
LONELINESS psychological well-being and loneliness.

Psychological well- A. Limitations

Variable Loneliness
being The present research paper has shown that there is a
significant negative relationship between psychological
Psychological well- well-being and loneliness i.e. loneliness results in poor
1.00
being
psychological well-being. But, there are some limitations in
this paper. The sample size that was taken was very small.
Loneliness -0.540** 1.00 Due to this small size, the difference between male and
female did not come out as significant. The researcher here,
**. P<0.01
has taken the entire sample from one region of India,
Gujarat. In future, to make the study more reliable, samples
Table II shows the correlation between loneliness and can be taken from different regions of India.
psychological well-being. A significant negative
relationship was observed between both the variables stating

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 International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, Vol. 7, No. 1, January 2017

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS [7] K. Rajesh, “Psychological well-being among adolescents: Role of

prosocial behavior,” Indian Journal of Health and Well-being, vol. 5,
I would like to extend my deepest gratitude towards my pp. 368-370, 2014.
Professor and Mentor Dr. Ritu Sharma HOD, Psychology, [8] K. Tiwari and S. Ojha, "Study of general well-being and
PanditDeendayal Petroleum University. She has been an environmental maturity of adolescents," Indian Journal of Health and
Well-Being, vol. 5, pp. 565-569, 2014.
excellent and enlightening guide for me and has encouraged [9] J. Kim, R. L. Rose, and W. Peng, “Loneliness as the cause and effect
me immensely. of problematic internet use and psychological well-being,”
Cyberpsychology and Behavior, vol. 12, pp. 451-455, 2009.
[10] T. Jackson, A. Soderlind, and E. K. Weiss, “Personality traits and
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