Ami Rokach

Surviving and Coping With Loneliness

Content analysis of 526 verbatim reports of loneliness revealed both helpful and nonhelpful coping strategies. The helpful strategies were grouped into three clusters that represent three distinct phases of the coping process. Eleven factors were subsumed under the three clusters. Four additional factors comprised the cluster of destructive and nonbeneficial coping strategies. The present study highlights the complexity and variety of coping strategies as well as the frequency with which they are used and their utility in helping people to survive loneliness and alienation.

The Experience of Loneliness: A Tri-Level Model

Abstract Based on the content analysis of verbatim reports of loneliness accounts provided by 526 subjects, I developed a three-level model of the experience of loneliness. Ten factors are subsumed under four major elements and are differentiated into 23 components. In addition to demonstrating the complexity of loneliness, the present study also highlights the sources of the subjective experience and the varied accounts reported by so many writers. This model may be useful in designing therapeutic intervention procedures according to individual needs of the lonely and in examining the various conditions that give rise to the different experiences of loneliness that people report.

Loneliness and the Effects of Life Changes

In this study, factor analysis was used to examine whether men and women experience loneliness differently and how marital status affects the experience of loneliness (especially if the marriage is terminated). The experiences of chronic and situational or event-related loneliness are also compared. Finally, the study is also an investigation of the social stigma that causes people to refuse to admit their loneliness. As a result of this stigma, when questioned for research purposes, individuals usually report a recall past loneliness rather than a current or ongoing experience. In the present study, the difference between loneliness recalled and loneliness experienced at the time of questioning is investigated.

Antecedents of loneliness: a factorial analysis

ABSTRACT Based on the content analysis of verbatim reports of loneliness experiences provided by 526 subjects, I developed a model of the antecedents of loneliness. Eight factors are subsumed under three clusters and are differentiated into 20 components. In addition to highlighting the sources of the subjective experience, the present study demonstrates the complexity of the loneliness phenomenon. The suggested model is helpful in examining the various conditions that give rise to the different experiences that people report and may be useful in designing therapeutic intervention procedures according to the individual needs of the lonely.

Cultural Background and Coping With Loneliness

The present study is an examination of the influence of cultural background on an individuals ability to cope with loneliness. Participants were from 3 cultural backgrounds: North American, South Asian, and West Indian. A total of 679 participants (318 men and 361 women) answered an 18-item loneliness questionnaire. Results revealed significant differences in the coping strategies that the participants used. Gender differences were also found across the cultures and within each culture.

Loneliness and the Life Cycle

Loneliness is a prevailing experience which every person has experienced. This subjective experience is influenced by ones personality and situational variables. In the present study, the influence of age and sex on the experience of loneliness were examined. 711 participants volunteered to answer an 82-item yes/no questionnaire on their loneliness experience and its meaning. Four age groups were compared: 106 youths (13–18 years old), 255 young adults (19–30 years old), 314 adults (31–58 years old), and 36 seniors (60–80 years old). Within and between sex comparisons indicated that loneliness is indeed affected by ones age and sex.

Coping with Loneliness in Old Age: A CrosS'Cultural Comparison

The present study is an examination of the influence of cultural background on the ways in which the aged cope with loneliness. Thirty-six participants from Canada and 105 from Portugal (60-83 years old) answered an 86-item questionnaire which examined thebeneficial strategies which they used to cope with loneliness. The strategies which were examined included Acceptance and Reflection, Self-Development and Understanding, Social Support Network, Distancing and Denial, Religion and Faith, and Increased Activity. Results indicated that the elderly of the two cultures differ on three subscales. Gender differences between and within cultures were also examined.

Content Analysis of Sexual Fantasies of Males and Females

Content analysis of the sexual fantasies of 87 community college and university students revealed no significant sex differences in the content of sexual fantasies. Both men and women preferred traditional and facilitative fantasies. Because this study was explorative, however, further research is required to validate the suggested scale and replicate these results.

Loneliness Updated: An Introduction

CHANCES ARE that you would disclose a sorry family history, medical problems, and even depression, but few would openly admit to being lonely. Susan Schultz (1976) poignantly wrote that “To be alone is to be different. To be different is to be alone, and to be in the interior of this fatal circle is to be lonely. To be lonely is to have failed” (p. 15). There is a stigma to being lonely. The public and therefore us researchers seem to not look favorably on anyone who admits to suffer its pain. When I present, or teach, and ask my audience whether there is anyone in the group who has never experienced loneliness, no one raises a hand. When I further inquire whether anyone is lonely now—dead silence. No one, in my 30 years of researching this topic, has ever had the courage to admit, in public, that he or she is lonely. Loneliness carries a significant social stigma, as lack of friendship and social ties are socially undesirable, and the social perceptions of lonely people are generally unfavorable. Lonely people often have very negative self-perceptions, and the inability to establish social ties suggest that the person may have personal inadequacies or socially undesirable attributes (Lau & Gruen, 1992). Loneliness has become an almost permanent and all-too-familiar way of life to millions of North Americans: the single people, divorced individuals, adolescents, housewives, and the scores of people who call suicide prevention centers and hot lines. It is so widespread and aversive, that a billion-dollar loneliness industry has been developed to meet the desire of those who do not know what to do about their loneliness (Rokach, 1988). The loneliness business includes videotaping clubs, health spas, self-help books and mate-finding agencies and is an extremely fast-growing business. It tempts us with an array of relational possibilities, socialskills upgrading, and semiforced joined activities. Many lonely people join the ride in an attempt to become unlonely and frequently end up more hopeless than they were when they started. Dating online and the explosive growth of Facebook are but two attempts at creating virtual communities that for many may replace flesh-and-blood friends. Ours is the age of relationships. We tend to believe in the uniqueness, importance, and availability of relating to others, thinking that we know how to conquer the barriers against closeness that we erect. Whereas in the past, work

The Effects of Culture on the Meaning of Loneliness

The present study examined the influence of culturalbackground on the experience of loneliness. Threehundred and seventy five participants from NorthAmerica and 375 from Croatia volunteered to answer an82 item questionnaire which examined the quality oftheir loneliness experiences. The factors whichcomprise the experience of loneliness are Emotionaldistress, Social inadequacy and alienation, Growth anddiscovery, Interpersonal isolation, andSelf-alienation. Results indicated that culturalbackground, indeed, affects the experience ofloneliness. North Americans scored higher on all fivefactors, and a similar trend was evident when men andwomen were compared across cultures.