Specific character of connection between personal characteristics and loneliness experience of mature-aged men

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Specific character of connection between personal characteristics and loneliness experience of mature-aged men

І. Stetsento, Т. Kubrychento

Oles Honchar Dnipro National University

Анотація

Проаналізовано феномен самотності, описано види самотності (дисоційована, дифузна та відчужуюча), її типи (негативна та позитивна, хронічна та ситуативна), глибину, рівні та причини виникнення. Наведено результати емпіричного дослідження специфіки зв'язку особистісних характеристик та переживання самотності чоловіками зрілого віку. Виявлено наявність позитивного кореляційного зв'язку між особистісними характеристиками й глибиною переживання самотності, видами та рівнем суб'єктивного переживання самотності.

Ключові слова: самотність, суб'єктивне відчуття самотності, негативна та позитивна самотність, ситуативна самотність, особистісні характеристики, особи зрілого віку.

loneliness personal depth

Аннотация

В статье представлены результаты теоретического анализа феномена одиночества и эмпирического исследования специфики связи личностных характеристик и переживания одиночества мужчинами зрелого возраста. Выявлена положительная корреляционная связь между личностными характеристиками одиноких мужчин и глубиной переживания одиночества, видами и уровнем субъективного переживания одиночества.

Ключевые слова: одиночество, субъективное ощущение одиночества, отрицательное и положительное одиночество, ситуативное одиночество, личностные характеристики, лица зрелого возраста.

Articulation of the issue. The development of the modern social space is characterized by the tendency to increase the number of lonely individuals of mature age, noted by the authors, which is conditioned by real or imaginary communicative deprivation (isolation from other people, disruption or absence of significant social relationships, lack of communication), personal and situational changes, tendency to isolation, indicating the importance of the detailed study of the problem of loneliness as a psychological category.

The urgency of a comprehensive scientific understanding of the complex phenomenon of male loneliness is dictated by the fact that, in spite of the broader circle of communication and the less significant importance of interpersonal relationships, men are more lonely than women, since self-disclosure and openheartedness are perceived by them as weaknesses that do not correspond to the image of "true" courage. In addition, it is impossible not to take into account the fact that the mature age is characterized by the corresponding crises of family relations and the peaks of divorces, stated by the researchers, with the worse readiness of men to destruction of intimate relationships in general, as well as possible personal and behavioral changes caused by the experience of loneliness. This, as it seems, makes it important to study the personal characteristics of lonely mature-aged men.

Analysis of recent research and publications, which initiated the solution

to the problem. The researchers presented the numerous interpretations of the content of the category of loneliness, but in the context of study of the personal characteristics of lonely mature-aged men, the particular attention is drawn to a number of definitions of the concept of loneliness as subjective experience of their loneliness against the background of objective inclusion of a person in interpersonal relationships (N. Khamitov); as experience resulting from a decrease in the number of social contacts and their quality (L. Peplau); as difficult emotional experience associated with the destruction of deep expectations of the individual (L. Peplau); as experience of the person's dissimilarity with other people, accompanied by communicative barriers, the rejection by other people and the inferiority feeling, as a result of the influence of a certain situation on a person, due to which a refusal from the present moment, from its possibilities and requirements occurs (C. Goldberg).

The analysis of literature demonstrates the assurance of the authors in the complexity and multilevelness of the phenomenon of loneliness. Different types and kinds of loneliness experience are described, the levels and depth of experience are determined.

The researchers proposed a series of criteria for distinguishing the types of loneliness, which are called according to the duration of loneliness experience, the peculiarities of loneliness perception by a person, the way of responding and the way of interaction with others, the realization of social roles. On the criterion of the duration of loneliness experience chronic loneliness is pointed out, which arises when the individual cannot establish optimal social connections for a long time. Situational loneliness often occurs as a result of difficult life situations in human life; variable loneliness is the most common form of loneliness experience associated with the desire of a person for privacy (Nurmi J., Toivonen S. & Eronen S.). Depending on the peculiarities of the perception of loneliness by a person there are negative and positive types of loneliness (Natalushko I.). And as for the way of responding to the state of solitude, active and passive types of loneliness are singled out (Xia N. & Li H.).

Considering the way of interaction with the surrounding the authors point out loneliness as isolation from the self, loneliness as isolation from other people and loneliness as a lifestyle (V. Ilyina). According to the criterion for the implementation of social roles there are: cosmic loneliness, which is characterized by the loss of human spiritual orientations; cultural loneliness as an experience of loss of values and orientations in life; social loneliness arises as a result of a sudden loss or change of social roles; interpersonal loneliness is associated with misunderstandings and difficulties in making new contacts (A. Sadler).

The reason for the classification of the types of loneliness is the course of its experience. Accordingly, there are social loneliness associated with the absence of social contacts, and emotional loneliness caused by the lack of commitment to a particular person. The researchers paid special attention to the causes of loneliness, and the main ones include the following: personal characteristics (low self-esteem, shyness, egocentrism, excessive hostility), influence of the situation factor (change of the place of residence, a sudden loss of meaningful contacts with others, etc.), the weakening of ties in the primary group, isolation from the real "self" (M. Ferguson), awareness of discrepancy between the desired and achieved levels of social contacts (I. Babanov, K. Goldberg, S. Korchagina, E. Popelu, V. Silyayeva,

N. Khamitov).

As for the mature age, the authors call the most common causes of loneliness, namely: the change in the social roles of a person from the point of view of the decrease of their quantitative characteristics or exclusion from the system of certain interpersonal and role relationships (professional, parent and marital ones), the presence of disharmonious relationships that cause the person's experience and discomfort (D. Watson). It is stressed that the experience of loneliness in adulthood is connected with the internal or external orientation of a person, which determines the choice of behavior strategies in the situation of loneliness experience.

Interestingly, the origins of loneliness of mature-aged men are seen primarily in their individual peculiarities, such as: shyness; lack of social skills, low selfesteem (C. Cutrona); introverted personality (D. Russell); an external locus of control and a low level of social skills (M. Ferguson). At the same time, the emergence of senses of general dissatisfaction, misery, anxiety, hostility, emptiness, sadness and anxiety are called the effects of loneliness (D. Perlman). Thus, the authors cover the essence of loneliness, describe its levels, types and causes of occurrence. However, despite the popularity of the experience of loneliness research, the personal characteristics of lonely mature-aged men require further detailed comprehension and comprehensive study, which have predetermined our scientific interest.

The purpose of the article is the empirical study of the specificity of connection between personal characteristics and loneliness experience of mature- aged men. Based on the assumption that a number of personal characteristics (shyness, depressiveness, low self-esteem, and closedness) of mature-aged persons correlate with the depth and types of loneliness experience, we have suggested that there may be a certain connection between personal characteristics and the depth, types and levels of subjective loneliness experience of lonely mature-aged men.

Presentation of the main research material. Given the findings of modern researchers that a mature age covers the period from 20 to 60 years (G. Craig, 2000), the sample included 50 lonely men aged from 35 to 55. To achieve the goal and to test the hypotheses of the research, a diagnostic questionnaire for detecting the depth of loneliness experience (by S. Korchagina), a diagnostic questionnaire for detecting the form of loneliness (by S. Korchagina), a method for diagnosing the level of subjective sense of loneliness (by D. Russell, M. Ferguson), a personal questionnaire FPI (Form B) adapted by A. Krylov and T. Roginsky) have been used. The methods of mathematical and statistical analysis of data while the processing of the results (parametric r-Pearson criterion) and methods of description and interpretation of the obtained results have been used as well.

The study made it possible to check the presence and specificity of the connection between the indicators of personal characteristics and the indicators of the depth of loneliness experience by the lonely mature-aged males (Table 1).

Table 1

The values of r-Pearson correlation coefficient between personal characteristics and the depth of loneliness experience of mature-aged males (according to the diagnostic questionnaire by S. Korchagina and a personal FPI questionnaire (Form B) adapted by A. Krylov and T. Roginsky)

*atp< .05; **p< .01.

As it can be seen from Table 1, the more sociable and balanced a lonely mature-aged man is, the more easily he experiences loneliness and less deeply he experiences possible loneliness, as it turned out. At the same time, the high level of sociability of a lonely man positively correlates with the excessively deep feelings of loneliness that seems to us unexpected and needs further consideration. At the same time, single men with high indicators of balance are characterized by deep experience of actual loneliness and slight experience of possible loneliness or even lack of it.

If positive correlation between the indicators of self-regulation of lonely men, their masculinity and the indicators of deep experience of actual loneliness, selfregulation and excessive experience of loneliness appear to be quite predictable (that is, the more perfect the readiness for self-regulation of single mature-aged males is, the more they correspond to the portrait of "true courage", the deeper they are experiencing the state of actual loneliness), then the data obtained while verifying the nature of the connection between the indicators of sociability, balance, openness, extroversion and deep experience of actual loneliness and excessively deep experience of loneliness by the men of mature age are somewhat contradictory. In particular, the high balance of a lonely man, on the one hand, seems to deepen his experience of actual loneliness, but at the same time makes it possible for him to experience possible loneliness of a shallow level or to deprive him of loneliness experience at all. Just as one might suppose that sociable men are excessively deeply concerned about loneliness, however, there is a hindrance to such a conclusion as there are high rates of lack of loneliness experience and shallow loneliness experience of such males. Under the conditions of lonely men's high openness, possible loneliness is likely to be experienced insignificantly at high rates of excessively deep experience of loneliness.

It should be noted that despite some contradictions in the data, nevertheless we can say that the strongest and most significant positive correlation relations have been established between the indicators of sociability, balance of lonely men and shallow experience of possible loneliness, as well as between the balance and deep experience of actual loneliness. In general, the data obtained concerning the nature of the established relationships, in our opinion, need further careful consideration, but they allow us to confirm the existence of correlations between a number of characteristics of lonely mature-aged men and the depth of their experience of loneliness.

In the course of the study, the specific character of connection between the personal characteristics and the indicators of the loneliness of lonely men of the age group under study have also been determined (Table 2).

Table 2

The values of r-Pearson correlation coefficient between the indicators of personal characteristics and the types of loneliness of mature-aged males (according to the diagnostic questionnaire by S. Korchagina and a personal FPI questionnaire (Form B) adapted by A. Krylov, T. Roginsky)

*atp< .05; **p< .01.

As it can be seen, the high neuroticism and depressiveness of a single male positively correlates with the experience of alienating loneliness, and more significant and strong connection of this kind of loneliness is observed with depressiveness against the background of the lack of significant connections of these characteristics with diffused and dissociated kinds of loneliness. We can assume that neuroticism and depressiveness of a lonely man can provoke the desire to stay alone because of the possibility of isolation, lack of emotional closedness to other people, lack of interpersonal relations.

At the same time, lonely men with high levels of irritability can experience dissociated loneliness, therefore, such persons are unlikely to be able to satisfy the benefits of being alone. Instead, significant correlations of irritability with the indicators of diffused and alienating kinds of loneliness are absent.

High sociability, openness and self-regulation of single men are positively correlated with the experience of diffused loneliness. Perhaps, being alone, such men tend to use their time for their own development.

It also turned out that the more aggressive lonely men are, the more they experience alienating and dissociated kinds of loneliness. Perhaps the excessive dependence on communication with others, the constant desire to be in companies is accompanied by the manifestation of reactive aggressiveness as a possible protective reaction to the threat of being alone with one's own experiences, which, as a result, leads to the loss of one's individuality and provokes the desire to remain alone and forms the idea that in the circle of the environment there are no close people you can turn to and share your thoughts and experiences with.

In our opinion, the data obtained when checking the nature of the connection between the indicators of shyness and the indicators of diffused, alienating and dissociated kinds of loneliness (with a more significant relationship between this characteristic and dissociated loneliness) have been quite anticipated, because shyness of a single man creates difficulties in establishing interpersonal contacts, limits the ability to master modern social skills necessary for effective communication against the background of intensive computerization of modern society.

It turned out that the more extroverted a lonely man of a mature age is, the more he experiences diffused and alienating kinds of loneliness. Perhaps it is because of the orientation to the "outside", the desire for communication such a man is painfully suffering from a lack of social contacts. The high masculinity of lonely mature-aged men is positively correlated with the experience of diffused loneliness. The more assertive, self-confident, rigid, powerful such a lonely man is, the more he experiences the diffused kind of loneliness. On the one hand, male masculinity corresponds to gender stereotypes, which is the evidence of a male sex-specific "Self-concept", but on the other hand, demonstrating the behavior consistent with normative representations, a man, being alone, does not fulfill his husband's/father's gender roles and may lose significant connections with others and is characterized by the domination of the alienation mechanism in his own experiences.

In addition, it became possible to establish the presence and nature of the connection between personal characteristics and the indicators of a high level of experience of subjective loneliness by lonely mature-aged males, and, on the contrary, a statistically significant relationship between the personal characteristics of lonely males and the indicators of low and intermediate levels of subjective loneliness has not been established (Table 3). It has been found that the higher the indicators of shyness, introversion, reactive aggressiveness and irritability of lonely men are, the higher is the level of their subjective loneliness experience. A shy lonely person can be closed, unconfident, restrained in expressing feelings, vulnerable, have an inadequate level of formation of communicative and social skills that can cause difficulties in establishing social contacts, in building relationships.

Table 3

*atp< .05; **p< .01.

The values of r-Pearson correlation coefficient between the indicators of personal characteristics and the indicators of subjective experience of loneliness of mature-aged males (by the method of diagnosing the level of subjective sense of loneliness by D. Russel and M. Ferguson and the personal questionnaire of FPI (Form B) adapted by A. Krylov, T. Roginsky)

Introversion can characterize a lonely man as restrained, sensitive, focused on internal experiences. Perhaps for lonely men with high levels of introversion, the tendency to separate from others, from the circle of friends may be a way to live alone, rethink their lives, which is characteristic of a high level of loneliness experience. High reactive aggressiveness of a lonely man is manifested in communication as a typical reaction to frustration, as a property expressed in readiness for aggressive actions, a deliberate desire to offend the interlocutor, to cause harm with subsequent awareness of the consequences.

That is why reactively aggressive lonely men can demonstrate the ways of social interaction which limit the ability to establish meaningful, close contacts. The irritability of a lonely man as a tendency to excessive reactions to ordinary life stimuli can complicate the establishment of interpersonal contacts, reduce the possibility of effective interaction, complicate the process of overcoming the loneliness experience.

Conclusions and prospects of further research. The conducted research allows to confirm the existence of statistically significant connection between a number of personal characteristics of lonely men and the depth, kinds and levels of loneliness experience. Sociability, balance, openness, extroversion, self-regulation and masculinity as personal characteristics of lonely men positively correlate with the indicators of the depth of loneliness experience. Neuroticism, depressiveness, irritability, sociability, shyness, openness, extraversion, self-regulation and masculinity are directly related to the indicators of diffused, alienating and dissociated kinds of loneliness. Reactive aggressiveness, shyness, introversion and irritability of lonely men positively correlate with a high level of subjective experience of loneliness.

Prospects for further scientific research are seen in elucidating the gender specificity of the relationship between personal characteristics and depth, types, kinds and levels of loneliness experience of single women and men.

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