Contributions of Personality, Social Network, and Cognitive Processes to the Experience of Loneliness in Women Religious and Other Mature Australian Women

Abstract

Characterological and situational factors that may contribute to loneliness were explored in 153 mature Australian women, comprising 70 women religious matched for age with 83 women who did not belong to a religious congregation. Each subject completed a questionnaire containing measures of emotional and social loneliness, personality, social network, and cognitive processes. For these women, aspects of personality, social network, and cognitive processes predicted loneliness. In addition, women religious reported higher levels of emotional loneliness than women from the comparison group. Although there was a difference in the extent of loneliness between women religious and other mature women, the groups were, in fact, more similar than different. The findings support a characterological rather than a situational explanation of loneliness.