This article was downloaded by: [New York University] On: 01 February 2015, At: 21:59 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK
The Journal of Social Psychology Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vsoc20
Loneliness and General Psychological Distress among Zimbabwean Students a
David Wilson & Susu Lavelle
a
a
Department of Psychology , University of Zimbabwe Published online: 30 Jun 2010.
To cite this article: David Wilson & Susu Lavelle (1990) Loneliness and General Psychological Distress among Zimbabwean Students, The Journal of Social Psychology, 130:2, 273-275, DOI: 10.1080/00224545.1990.9924581 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00224545.1990.9924581
PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content.
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This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions
Downloaded by [New York University] at 21:59 01 February 2015
The Journal of Social Psychology. 13@2), 273-215
Loneliness and General Psychological Distress Among Zimbabwean Students DAVID WILSON SUSU LAVELLE Department of Psychology University of Zimbabwe GOTLIB (1984) FACTORED the Beck Depression Inventory with other measures of dysphoria and found that depression loaded on a large first factor that he interpreted as general distress. He concluded that the findings failed to support the discriminant validity of Beck’s inventory. The UCLA Loneliness Scale has been shown to be highly intercorrelated with several indices of dysphoria, including low self-esteem, depression, and anxiety (Hojat, 1982; Levin & Stokes, 1986; Russell, Peplau, & Cutrona, 1980), which prompts concern about the specificity of this instrument. The present study examined the specificity of this scale among Zimbabwean students. Seventy-seven (44 male, 33 female) University of Zimbabwe students (M age = 22.13, SD = 4.78) completed the Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale (Russell et al., 1980), Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1%5), the 13-item Beck Depression Inventory (Beck & Beck, 1972), a 4-item Requests for reprints should be sent to David Wilson, Department of Psychology, University of Zimbabwe, Mount Pleasant, Harare, Zimbabwe. 273
274
The Journal of Social Psychology
Downloaded by [New York University] at 21:59 01 February 2015
State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (Spielberger, Gorsuch, & Luschene, 1970), and the Social Support Questionnaire (Sarason, Levine, Basham, & Sarason, 1983). Although the reliability of .39 obtained for trait anxiety was niodest, the reliabilities of the other scales, which ranged from .59 to .96 (M = .82), were satisfactory. Intercorrelations among trait loneliness, state loneliness, depression, self-esteem, trait anxiety, and state anxiety, which ranged from .32 to .58 (M = .a), were uniformly significant (ps < .01). Principal component analysis with varimax rotation yielded two factors with eigenvalues greater than one, explaining 40.57% and 18.97%, respectively, of the total variance. The first factor comprised all the scales except the two social support measures. The trait loneliness loading of .81 on this factor is noteworthy. The second factor comprised the social support measures. The correlations of loneliness with depression, anxiety, and low selfesteem obtained here are similar in magnitude to those reported in North American research. Scale intercorrelations indicated substantial variance overlap among these measures. Factor analysis yielded a General Distress factor with a large trait loneliness salient, which suggests that the bulk of loneliness variance is shared with psychological distress. These data suggest that General Distress is the central factor in loneliness scores among Zimbabwean students and fail to support the specificity of the UCLA Loneliness Scale in this sample. Although the conclusion cannot be generalized to other societies, sizeable correlations between loneliness and several measures of dysphoria have been reported elsewhere, and the discriminant validity of loneliness scales should be examined before they are used in other societies. REFERENCES
Beck, A. T., & Beck, R. W . (1972). Screening depressed patients in family practice: A rapid technique. Postgraduate Medicine, 52, 8 1-85. Gotlib, 1. H. (1984). Depression and general psychopathology in university students. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 93, 19-30. Hojat, M. (1982). Loneliness as a function of selected personality variables. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 38, 137-141. Levin, I., & Stokes, J. P. (1986). An examination of the relation of individual difference variables to loneliness. Journal of Personality, 54, 7 17-733. Rosenberg, M. (1%5). Society and the adolescent self-image. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Russell, D., Peplau, L. A., & Cutrona, C. E. (1980). The Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale: Concurrent and discriminant validity evidence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39, 472-480.
Wilson & Lavelle
275
Sarason, I. G . , Levine, H. M., Basham, R. B., & Sarason, B. R. (1983). Assessing social support: The Social Support Questionnaire. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44, 127-139. Speilberger, C. D., Gorsuch, R. L., & Luschene, R. E. (1970). Munuul for the SrateTrait Anriery Inventory. Palo Alto; CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.
Downloaded by [New York University] at 21:59 01 February 2015
Received February 2, 1989
The Journal of Social Psychology Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vsoc20
Loneliness and General Psychological Distress among Zimbabwean Students a
David Wilson & Susu Lavelle
a
a
Department of Psychology , University of Zimbabwe Published online: 30 Jun 2010.
To cite this article: David Wilson & Susu Lavelle (1990) Loneliness and General Psychological Distress among Zimbabwean Students, The Journal of Social Psychology, 130:2, 273-275, DOI: 10.1080/00224545.1990.9924581 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00224545.1990.9924581
PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content.
Downloaded by [New York University] at 21:59 01 February 2015
This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions
Downloaded by [New York University] at 21:59 01 February 2015
The Journal of Social Psychology. 13@2), 273-215
Loneliness and General Psychological Distress Among Zimbabwean Students DAVID WILSON SUSU LAVELLE Department of Psychology University of Zimbabwe GOTLIB (1984) FACTORED the Beck Depression Inventory with other measures of dysphoria and found that depression loaded on a large first factor that he interpreted as general distress. He concluded that the findings failed to support the discriminant validity of Beck’s inventory. The UCLA Loneliness Scale has been shown to be highly intercorrelated with several indices of dysphoria, including low self-esteem, depression, and anxiety (Hojat, 1982; Levin & Stokes, 1986; Russell, Peplau, & Cutrona, 1980), which prompts concern about the specificity of this instrument. The present study examined the specificity of this scale among Zimbabwean students. Seventy-seven (44 male, 33 female) University of Zimbabwe students (M age = 22.13, SD = 4.78) completed the Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale (Russell et al., 1980), Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1%5), the 13-item Beck Depression Inventory (Beck & Beck, 1972), a 4-item Requests for reprints should be sent to David Wilson, Department of Psychology, University of Zimbabwe, Mount Pleasant, Harare, Zimbabwe. 273
274
The Journal of Social Psychology
Downloaded by [New York University] at 21:59 01 February 2015
State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (Spielberger, Gorsuch, & Luschene, 1970), and the Social Support Questionnaire (Sarason, Levine, Basham, & Sarason, 1983). Although the reliability of .39 obtained for trait anxiety was niodest, the reliabilities of the other scales, which ranged from .59 to .96 (M = .82), were satisfactory. Intercorrelations among trait loneliness, state loneliness, depression, self-esteem, trait anxiety, and state anxiety, which ranged from .32 to .58 (M = .a), were uniformly significant (ps < .01). Principal component analysis with varimax rotation yielded two factors with eigenvalues greater than one, explaining 40.57% and 18.97%, respectively, of the total variance. The first factor comprised all the scales except the two social support measures. The trait loneliness loading of .81 on this factor is noteworthy. The second factor comprised the social support measures. The correlations of loneliness with depression, anxiety, and low selfesteem obtained here are similar in magnitude to those reported in North American research. Scale intercorrelations indicated substantial variance overlap among these measures. Factor analysis yielded a General Distress factor with a large trait loneliness salient, which suggests that the bulk of loneliness variance is shared with psychological distress. These data suggest that General Distress is the central factor in loneliness scores among Zimbabwean students and fail to support the specificity of the UCLA Loneliness Scale in this sample. Although the conclusion cannot be generalized to other societies, sizeable correlations between loneliness and several measures of dysphoria have been reported elsewhere, and the discriminant validity of loneliness scales should be examined before they are used in other societies. REFERENCES
Beck, A. T., & Beck, R. W . (1972). Screening depressed patients in family practice: A rapid technique. Postgraduate Medicine, 52, 8 1-85. Gotlib, 1. H. (1984). Depression and general psychopathology in university students. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 93, 19-30. Hojat, M. (1982). Loneliness as a function of selected personality variables. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 38, 137-141. Levin, I., & Stokes, J. P. (1986). An examination of the relation of individual difference variables to loneliness. Journal of Personality, 54, 7 17-733. Rosenberg, M. (1%5). Society and the adolescent self-image. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Russell, D., Peplau, L. A., & Cutrona, C. E. (1980). The Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale: Concurrent and discriminant validity evidence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39, 472-480.
Wilson & Lavelle
275
Sarason, I. G . , Levine, H. M., Basham, R. B., & Sarason, B. R. (1983). Assessing social support: The Social Support Questionnaire. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44, 127-139. Speilberger, C. D., Gorsuch, R. L., & Luschene, R. E. (1970). Munuul for the SrateTrait Anriery Inventory. Palo Alto; CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.
Downloaded by [New York University] at 21:59 01 February 2015
Received February 2, 1989
