Socio-psychological factors of women’s loneliness

Leonova, I.M. (2020). Socio-psychological factors of women’s loneliness. Ukrainian psychological journal, 2(14), 171-188. https://doi.org/10.17721/upj.2020.2(14).9

Factors of loneliness experienced by women from different social groups, identified with factor analysis, are considered. Six structural factors were identified: neuroticism, an individual’s position in relation to herself and others, sociability, interpersonal relationships, personal potential, behavioural types. Each of these factors has a direction, so determines a woman’s sociality or, vice versa, deepness of her loneliness.
We have determined that personal qualities developed due to experienced negative emotions, including low self-esteem, too high demands toward themselves and others, depression, fear and anxiety, insecurity, or emotional instability, contribute to antisocial behaviour (social indifference) and loneliness. A woman’s aggressive-negative position is one of the factors influencing her maladaptation to society and making her feels lonely. We can also argue that destructive communications also contribute to the feeling of loneliness.
We have found that harmony and comfort at interpersonal relationships and loneliness depends on a woman’s position in interpersonal relationships, their distance and valence. Women with a high personal potential are less likely to experience feelings of loneliness than women with low personal potential. Moreover, fear and aggression directly affect the development of women’s depressed-aggressive behaviour, which leads to social maladaptation; this fact allowed us to understand the causes for the fear of being alone and the mechanism forming women’s feeling of loneliness.