Psychometric Properties of the Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale and Two Short-Form measures of Loneliness in Zimbabwe

Abstract

The cross-cultural reliability in Zimbabwe of the Revised University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) Loneliness Scale and two short forms of the Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale were investigated. Subjects comprised a sample of 1,354 adolescents and another sample of 754 adults. The reliability of the Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale was acceptable. The internal consistency of an eight-item short form of the Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale was adequate, but the reliability of a four-item short form was low. Factor analysis of the Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale, which yielded two factors similar to those reported in North America by Zakahi and Duran (1982) supported the construct validity of the Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale in Zimbabwe. The Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale and the eight-item short form were highly correlated, but this association was spuriously elevated by the fact the eight-item short form is part of the full scale. Factor analysis of the eight-item short form suggested that this scale does not consistently reflect the factor structure of the full scale. We concluded that the Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale possesses acceptable reliability and factorial validity in Zimbabwe and that the eight-item version is superior to the four-item form of the Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale as a short loneliness measure. However, additional refinements may be needed to further improve the eight-item short version.