Cultural and emotional components of loneliness and depression.

Publisher: New York Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 0376332 Publication Model: Print Cited Medium: Print ISSN: 0022-3980 (Print) Linking ISSN: 00223980 NLM ISO Abbreviation: J Psychol Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: 2010- : New York : Routledge
Original Publication: Provincetown, Mass. : Journal Press

Cultural Characteristics* ; Culture* ; Loneliness* ; Social Isolation*; Affective Symptoms/*psychology ; Asian/*psychology ; Depression/*psychology; Adult ; Female ; Hong Kong/ethnology ; Humans ; Male ; Psychological Tests ; Social Environment ; Social Support ; Taiwan/ethnology ; United States

The relation between loneliness and depression and the distinction between emotional and social loneliness were examined by administering the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Loneliness Scale, the Belcher Extended Loneliness Scale (BELS), the Beck Depression Inventory, and self-report questions about social and emotional loneliness to the following four groups: foreign (Chinese-descent) students in American universities, Chinese students in Taiwanese universities, American students in American universities, and depressed American clients. Depressed clients reported not only more depression but also more overall loneliness than did any of the other groups; they also were more likely to report emotional loneliness or both emotional and social loneliness than were the other three groups. Foreign students, in contrast, reported more social loneliness than did Taiwanese students. Results substantiate the view that loneliness is not a unitary concept and suggest that the UCLA Loneliness Scale and the BELS emphasize emotional rather than social loneliness and that emotional loneliness is a greater component of depression than is social loneliness.

Date Created: 19870101 Date Completed: 19870609 Latest Revision: 20221207

20221208

10.1080/00223980.1987.9712644

3572834