Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between the degree of self-reported loneliness and the conversational skills observed in the interaction between strangers. The subjects were 48 university students who obtained high, medium, or low scores on the Japanese version of the UCLA Loneliness Scale. Each of these three groups included 8 males and 8 females students. The interpersonal interactions between the subjects and the confederate of the same sex were recorded by video cameras. These records were analyzed quantitatively by the raters who were blind to the subject's state of loneliness. Other raters made the qualitative analysis of the subject's conversational skills. The subjects also rated themselves and the confederate during the conversation. The results revealed some unique characteristics of highly lonely students in terms of quality but not in terms of quantity. The highly lonely students tended to lack the social skills indispensable to establish intimate interpersonal relationships. They also tended to negatively rate both themselves and the other party following interpersonal interactions.
