Abstract
This article examines the psychometric indicators of Social and Emotional Loneliness Scale for Adults, the short version (SELSA-S; DiTommaso, Brannen, & Best, 2004). The scale contains 15 items, divided into three scales: social loneliness, emotional loneliness, and romantic loneliness. The survey was attended by 1713 persons over 60 years of which were 1042 women and 671 men; and 383 of whom were in early-to-middle adulthood (20-55 years). The results showed high-reliability ratios for both the full scale (α = 0.825) and the three subscales (α = 0.727-0.845) versions. The factor analysis showed a four-factor structure of the scale. There were also statistically significant correlations between the three subscales. It was found that social and emotional loneliness had the strongest influence among older people. Therefore, it was necessary to create more opportunities for satisfactory communication, forms, and functioning of social contacts. It was found that the romantic loneliness had the strongest influence on younger people, i.e., they experienced significantly the lack of a partner by them or dissatisfaction with him.
Highlights
Personality loneliness is one of the most current topics today
SELSA-S (The Social and Emotional Loneliness Scale for Adults - Short Form) (DiTommaso, Brannen & Best, 2004). It contains 15 items divided into three subscales: social loneliness (e.g., "I do not have any friends who understand me, but I wish I did."); emotional loneliness (e.g., I “feel alone when I am with my family”) and romantic loneliness (e.g., “I have an unmet need for a close romantic relationship”)
To determine the psychometric values of SELSA-S (DiTommaso, Brannen & Best, 2004) on the Bulgarian sample, the data were subjected to statistical analysis using the SPSS 20 program and factor analysis, reliability analysis, correlation analysis, and comparative analysis by gender and age factors
Summary
Personality loneliness is one of the most current topics today. The rapidly changing conditions of life, the unpredictability of the socio-political and the present economic situation in Bulgaria affect the area of interpersonal communication and interactions between people. The modern human consciousness is formed and developed in conditions of increasing information flow in the process of interaction among different groups of people. All this causes the person to be in permanent readiness for numerous, but not long-lasting social interactions that only multiply the effect of loneliness. Older people (80+ years of age) understand and appreciate the meaning of "loneliness" in more nuanced ways than people of other age groups It is associated with a reduction in activity presupposed by a reduction in their capacity to work or limits on their mobility, rather than by a lack of social contacts (Alexandrova, 2015)
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