A Study of Students’ Loneliness Levels and Their Attachment Styles

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between loneliness levels and attachment styles of university students. In this research, it was investigated whether the attachment styles differed in terms of variables such as gender, class, place of stay, socio-economic level of their family, parental education levels, counterpart friendship relations, number of siblings, whether to receive psychological help or not. This research was conducted as a relational search. A total of 247 university students selected randomly formed the sample of the research. The results of the research can be summarized as follows; Loneliness levels of those who perceive the socioeconomic status as low and those who didn't get psychological help are found to be higher. Male students and students who get psychological help have higher scores on secure attachment. According to the results of the research there's a low negative correlation between the loneliness levels of students and dismissing attachment style, a low positive correlation between the loneliness level and preoccupied attachment style, and a low negative correlation between the loneliness level and secure attachment style.

Ebeveyn Duygusal Erişilebilirliği, Romantik İlişki Kalitesi ve Sosyal Bağlılık ile İyi Oluş Arasındaki İlişkide Yalnızlığın Aracılık Rolü

“…As parental emotional availability is a concept that has been developed on the basis of attachment theory, it is deemed appropriate to evaluate this finding on the basis of attachment theory. Thus, this research finding is in parallel with other studies carried out on the basis of attachment theory (Akbağ & Erden-İmamoğlu, 2010;Bernadon, Babb, Hakim-Larson, & Gargg, 2011;Kıralp & Serin, 2017;Pereira et al, 2013;Varghese & Pistole, 2017). Moreover, according to a study carried out by Demirli and Demir (2014) with a study group of university students, there is a relation in the negative direction between loneliness and attachment.…”

Social Network, Facebook Use and Loneliness: A Comparative Analysis Between Public and Private University Students in Bangladesh

“…The interpretation may be such that students who get psychological and economic supports feel encouraged and inspired and that is why they do not suffer from loneliness. The result is in line with Ozdemir and Tuncay [17] and Kiralp and Serin [21].…”

“…Penning et al [20] found that the relative utility of the DJG scale for research involving middle-aged and older adults but suggested a need for attention to the implications of method effects associated with item wording and lack of measurement invariance with respect to item residuals. Kiralp and Serin [21] found that students who get socio-economic supports have lower loneliness while the level of loneliness is higher when they do not get psychological support. Basaran [22] revealed that recreational activities were specified to have positive effect on increasing the self-esteem level and decreasing loneliness level of the prisoners.…”

Adolescents’ and young adults’ experiences of loneliness and their thoughts about its alleviation

“…Early attachment is considered to affect future relationships (Kiralp & Serin, 2017). Children who possess a secure attachment style are able to handle stress related situations better, show more flexibility and imagination (Hart & Schwartz, 2010) develop higher self-esteem (Dhal et al, 2007), and more intimate relationships, resulting in experiencing less loneliness (Akbag & Erden, 2010).…”