The Psychometric Validity and Reliability of the Turkish Version of the Existential Loneliness Questionnaire

Abstract

Loneliness is accepted as a universal concept but it is still controversial in terms of its source and nature. Existential loneliness, a primary and inevitable condition of human existence as the only certain thing is death, was described as intolerable emptiness, sadness, and longing due to the awareness of one’s fundemental separtenes as a human being. The Existential Loneliness Questionnaire (ELQ) was particularly developed to assess existential loneliness. The objective of the current study was to examine psychometric reliability and validity of the ELQ in Turkish samples. As a result of exploratory factor analysis, two items were deleted, and the remaining 20 items formed the three factors of ELQ, loneliness in social ties, loneliness in close relationships, and finding meaning in life. Twenty-item Turkish ELQ appeared to be a reliable and valid measure of existential loneliness. The 3-factor structure of ELQ obtained through principle component analysis was also partially supported by multigroup confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA) indicating that ELQ is an aggregate measure. Further research with a larger community sample is needed in order to demonstrate the generalizability of the current findings to other samples.