A STUDY OF THE FEELING OF LONELINESS (I)
THE RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY OF THE REVISED UCLA LONELINESS SCALE
1983 Volume 22 Issue 2 Pages 99-108
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1983 Volume 22 Issue 2 Pages 99-108
The purpose of this study is to examine the reliability and validity of the revised UCLA Loneliness Scale (Russell, Peplau & Cutrona, 1980), based on several criteria. Nine hundred and seventy-five subjects were administered the revised scale along with other instruments for measuring loneliness.
The main results obtained here were as follows:
1) Chronic alcoholics showed the highest loneliness scores. The middle-aged were more lonely, on the average, than college students.
2) A significant sex difference was found only in the case of college freshmen; male freshmen show higher loneliness than female freshmen.
3) The UCLA Loneliness Scale has high internal consistency, with a coefficient alpha of. 871 and a test-retest correlation over a 6-month period of. 546. The reliability coefficient assessed by the split-half method was also very high (r=. 829). Accordingly, the results appear to provide clear evidences of the reliability of the revised measure.
4) The validity of the revised UCLA loneliness scale was assessed in several ways. The relationship between scores on this scale and measures of social activities and relations were examined as the main test of concurrent validity. Lonely people reported more limited social activities and relations, and they tended to regard their parents as being disagreeable, cold, and untrustworthy. Substantial correlation (-. 42) was found between loneliness scores and the measure of self-esteem. Lonely people had lower self-esteem than people who were not lonely. Furthermore, lonely people had more medical and psychological problems than their less lonely peers.
Overall, these findings lend support to the validity of the revised Loneliness Scale.
