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Loneliness and social skill deficits
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
|April 1, 1982
Summary
Loneliness may stem from social skill deficits. Improving conversational "partner attention" skills reduced loneliness in a study of college males, suggesting loneliness can be addressed as a social skills issue.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Social Psychology
- Clinical Psychology
Background:
- Loneliness is a prevalent psychological state.
- Social skill deficits are often associated with loneliness.
- The specific conversational behaviors contributing to loneliness require further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the relationship between social skill deficits and loneliness.
- To investigate the role of conversational behaviors, specifically "partner attention," in loneliness.
- To determine if improving social skills can alleviate loneliness.
Main Methods:
- Study 1: Compared conversational behaviors of high-lonely and low-lonely college students.
- Study 2: Manipulated "partner attention" in high-lonely males during dyadic interactions.
- Utilized control groups (interaction only, no contact) for comparison.
Main Results:
- High-lonely individuals exhibited significantly less "partner attention" than low-lonely individuals.
- Increased "partner attention" by high-lonely males led to significant reductions in loneliness.
- Improvements in "partner attention" also positively affected related psychological variables.
Conclusions:
- Loneliness can be conceptualized as a problem related to social skills.
- Targeting and improving specific social behaviors like "partner attention" may be an effective intervention for loneliness.
- Findings support the utility of social skills training for addressing loneliness.