The relationship between loneliness and psychological well-being among third-year students: a cross-cultural investigation

Abstract

South Africa is a multicultural, developing country. An increasing number of young people experience loneliness as a result of disintegrating political systems, failed leadership, the high incidence of child abuse, rape, sexual molestation, incest, violence and crime. It is thus important that young adults should be included in studies on loneliness. This study aimed to examine whether there is any relationship between loneliness and psychological well-being amongst third-year students from different cultural groups at the University of the Free State. Thus the study will also determine whether the sub-scales of psychological well-being and different biographical variables can explain the variance of loneliness amongs third-year students from different cultural groups and to what degree this occurs. The non-experimental (ex post facto) method of research was used. In this non-experimental hypothesis-testing research, no experimental intervention occurred and participants were not randomly allocated to groups. The research strategy used in this study was the criterion group design. A self-designed, abridged biographical questionnaire, The Le Roux Loneliness Questionnaire and the Psychological General Well-Being Index were used to measure the constructs. The results were positive, showing that two subscales of psychological well-being (depression and a sense of positive well-being) affect loneliness significantly. Altogether, these two variables explain 28.9% of the variance of loneliness, while gender and home circumstances jointly contribute 13.7%. The total contribution of the aforementioned variables to the explanation of variance was 42.6%. Culture, apparently, plays no significant role.

Keywords:

• loneliness
• psychological well-being
• cultural groups
• age
• gender
• students