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University Students' Personality Traits as Predictors of their Loneliness Levels

Year 2016, Volume: 45 Issue: 2, 131 - 146, 01.09.2016

Gökay Keldal Abdullah Atlı

Abstract

The
purpose of this study is to determine to what extent the personality traits
based on the Five Factor Theory (extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness,
openness to experience) predict loneliness levels of university students. The
study group of the research was composed of 433 students (260 female and 173 male
students) who were attending Inonu University and Nigde University in the
academic year of 2013-2014. As the data collection tools, the UCLA Loneliness
Scale and the Five Factor Personality Inventory were used in the study. The
data analysis was performed using correlation and multiple regression analysis
methods. According to the findings of the research, the personality traits of
extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, and openness to experience are
significant predictors of university students' loneliness levels. Consequently,
the personality traits based on the Five Factor Theory explained 28% of the
variance in loneliness scores of university students.

Keywords

Loneliness Personality Personality traits University

References

  • Atak, H. (2009). Big five traits and loneliness among Turkish emerging adults. International Journal of Social, Behavioral, Educational, Economic, Business and Industrial Engineering, 3(7),1494-1498.
  • Atli, A., Keldal, G., & Sonar, O. (2015). Üniversite öğrencilerinin yabancılaşma ile yalnızlık düzeyleri arasındaki ilişki. Mustafa Kemal Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi, 12(29), 149-160.
  • Bacanlı, H., İlhan, T., & Aslan, S. (2009). Beş faktör kuramına dayalı bir kişilik ölçeğinin geliştirilmesi: Sıfatlara dayalı kişilik testi (SDKT). Türk Eğitim Bilimleri Dergisi, 7(2), 261-279.
  • Barrick, M. R. & Mount, M. K. (1993). Autonomy as a moderator of the relationships between the big five personality dimensions and job performance. Journal of applied Psychology, 78(1), 111-118.
  • Benet-Martinez, V. & John, O. P. (1998). Los cinco grandes across cultures and ethnic groups: Multitrait multimethod analyses of the big five in Spanish and English. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75(3), 729-750.
  • Buluş, M. (1997). Üniversite öğrencilerinde yalnızlık. Pamukkale Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, 1997(3), 82-90.
  • Ceyhan, E. & Ceyhan, A. A. (2011). Üniversite psikolojik danışma merkezine başvuran öğrencilerin yalnızlık ve depresyon düzeyleri. Eğitim ve Bilim, 36(160), 65-80.
  • Chang, E. C., Muyan, M., & Hirsch, J. K. (2015). Loneliness, positive life events, and psychological maladjustment: When good things happen, even lonely people feel better!. Personality and Individual Differences, 86(2015), 150-155.
  • Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). New Jersey: Erlbaum.
  • Cohen, J., Cohen, P., West, S. G., & Aiken, L. S. (2003). Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences (3rd ed.). New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
  • Costa, P. T. & McCrae, R. R. (1992). Normal personality assessment in clinical practice: The NEO Personality Inventory. Psychological Assessment,4(1), 5-13.
  • Costa, P. T., McCrae, R. R., & Dye, D. A. (1991). Facet scales for agreeableness and conscientiousness: A revision of the NEO Personality Inventory. Personality and Individual Differences, 12(9), 887-898.
  • Creswell, J. W. (2012). Educational research: Planning, conducting and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
  • Çeçen, A. R. & Cenkseven, F. (2007). Psychological well being in predicting loneliness among university students. Çukurova Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi, 16(2), 109-118.
  • Demir, A. (1989). UCLA Yalnızlık Ölçeğinin geçerlik ve güvenirliği. Psikoloji Dergisi, 7(23), 14-18.
  • Field, A. (2009). Discovering Statistics Using SPSS (3rd ed.). London: SAGE.
  • Fraenkel, J. R., Wallen, N. E., & Hyun, H. H. (2012). How to design and evaluate research in education (8th ed.). New York: McGraw Hill.
  • Girgin, G. (2009). Evaluation of the factors affecting loneliness and hopelessness among university students in Turkey. Social Behavior and Personality, 37(6), 811-818. doi: 10.2224/sbp.2009.37.6.811
  • Goldberg, L. R. (1990). An alternative description of personality: The big five factor structure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59(6), 1216-1229.
  • Goldberg, L. R. (1992). The development of markers for the big-five factor structure. Psychological Assessment, 4(1), 26-42.
  • Hensley, B., Martin, P., Margrett, J. A., MacDonald, M., Siegler, I. C., Poon, L. W., & The Georgia Centenarian Study. (2012). Life events and personality predicting loneliness among centenarians: Findings from the Georgia Centenarian Study. The Journal of Psychology, 146(1-2), 173-188. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00223980.2011.613874
  • Ho, R. (2014). Handbook of univariate and multivariate data analysis with IBM SPSS (2nd ed.) Boca Raton, FL: CRC.
  • Judge, T. A., Higgins, C. A., Thoresen, C. J., & Barrick, M. R. (1999). The big five personality traits, general mental ability, and career success across the life span. Personnel Psychology, 52(3), 621-652.
  • Karnick, P. M. (2005). Feeling lonely: Theoretical perspectives. Nursing Science Quarterly, 18(1), 7-12.
  • Kılıç, D. Ş. (2014). Üniversite öğrencilerinin yalnızlık ve psikolojik dayanıklılıklarının incelenmesi. Unpublished master’s thesis, Atatürk Üniversitesi Eğitim Bilimleri Enstitüsü, Erzurum.
  • Kızıldağ, S. (2009). Akademik başarının yordayıcısı olarak yalnızlık, boyun eğici davranışlar ve sosyal destek. Unpublished master’s thesis, Hacettepe Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Ankara.
  • Koçak, R. (2003). Duygusal ifade eğitimi programının üniversite öğrencilerinin aleksitimi ve yalnızlık düzeylerine etkisi. Unpublished doctorate dissertation, Ankara Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Ankara.
  • Kong, X., Wei, D., Li, W., Cun, L., Xue, S., Zhang, Q., & Qiu, J. (2015). Neuroticism and extraversion mediate the association between loneliness and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Experimental Brain Research, 233(1), 157-164. doi: 10.1007/s00221-014-40974
  • Lijuan, Q., Rui, Z., Benxian, Y. A. O., & Xiao, Z. (2014). The effect of loneliness and coping style on academic adjustment among college freshmen. Social Behavior & Personality, 42, 969–978. http://dx.doi.org/10.2224/sbp.2014.42.6.969
  • Long, M. V. & Martin, P. (2000). Personality, relationship closeness, and loneliness of oldest old adults and their children. The Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 55(5), 311-319.
  • Mayers, A. (2013). Introduction statistics and SPSS in psychology. Edinburg: Pearson.
  • McCrae, R. R. & Costa, P. T. (1987). Validation of the five-factor model of personality across instruments and observers. Journal of personality and social psychology, 52(1), 81-90.
  • McCrae, R. R. & John, O. P. (1992). An introduction to the five‐factor model and its applications. Journal of personality, 60(2), 175-215.
  • Mount, M. K., Barrick, M. R., Scullen, S. M., & Rounds, J. (2005). Higher‐order dimensions of the big five personality traits and the big six vocational interest types. Personnel Psychology, 58(2), 447-478.
  • Neto, F. & Barros, J. (2003) Predictors of loneliness among students and nuns in Angola and Portugal. The Journal of Psychology, 137(4), 351-362. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00223980309600619
  • Oruç, T. (2013). Üniversite öğrencilerinde psikososyal değişkenlere göre yalnızlık ile otomatik düşünceler ilişkisinin incelenmesi. Unpublished master’s thesis, Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Eğitim Bilimleri Enstitüsü, İzmir.
  • Peplau, L. A. & Perlman, D. (1982). Perspectives on loneliness. In L. A. Peplau & D. Perlman (Eds), Loneliness: A sourcebook of current theory, research and therapy (pp. 1–18). New York: Wiley.
  • Perlman, D. & Peplau, L. A. (1981). Toward a social psychology of loneliness. In S. Duck & R. Gilmour (Eds), Personal relationships in disorder (pp. 31-56). London: Academic.
  • Perlman, D. & Peplau, L. A. (1984). Loneliness research: A survey of empirical findings. In L. A. Peplau & S. E. Goldston (Eds), Preventing the harmful consequences of severe and persistent loneliness (pp. 13-46).Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
  • Roccas, S., Sagiv, L., Schwartz, S. H., & Knafo, A. (2002). The big five personality factors and personal values. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28(6), 789-801.
  • Tabachnick, G. B. & Fidell, L. S. (2013). Using multivariate statistics (6th ed.). London: Pearson.
  • Teppers, E., Klimstra, T. A., Van Damme, C., Luyckx, K., Vanhalst, J., & Goossens, L. (2013). Personality traits, loneliness, and attitudes toward aloneness in adolescence. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 30(8), 1045-1063. doi: 10.1177/0265407513481445
  • Tuzgöl-Dost, M. (2007). Üniversite öğrencilerinin yaşam doyumunun bazı değişkenlere göre
  • incelenmesi. Pamukkale Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, 2(22), 132-143.
  • Vanhalst, J., Klimstra, T. A., Luyckx, K., Scholte, R. H., Engels, R. C., & Goossens, L. (2012). The interplay of loneliness and depressive symptoms across adolescence: Exploring the role of personality traits. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 41(6), 776-787. doi: 10.1007/s10964-011-9726-7
  • Wei, M., Russell, D. W., & Zakalik, R. A. (2005). Adult attachment, social self-efficacy, self-disclosure, loneliness, and subsequent depression for freshman college students: A longitudinal study. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 52(4), 602-614. doi: 10.1037/0022-0167.52.4.602

Year 2016, Volume: 45 Issue: 2, 131 - 146, 01.09.2016

Gökay Keldal Abdullah Atlı

Abstract

References

  • Atak, H. (2009). Big five traits and loneliness among Turkish emerging adults. International Journal of Social, Behavioral, Educational, Economic, Business and Industrial Engineering, 3(7),1494-1498.
  • Atli, A., Keldal, G., & Sonar, O. (2015). Üniversite öğrencilerinin yabancılaşma ile yalnızlık düzeyleri arasındaki ilişki. Mustafa Kemal Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi, 12(29), 149-160.
  • Bacanlı, H., İlhan, T., & Aslan, S. (2009). Beş faktör kuramına dayalı bir kişilik ölçeğinin geliştirilmesi: Sıfatlara dayalı kişilik testi (SDKT). Türk Eğitim Bilimleri Dergisi, 7(2), 261-279.
  • Barrick, M. R. & Mount, M. K. (1993). Autonomy as a moderator of the relationships between the big five personality dimensions and job performance. Journal of applied Psychology, 78(1), 111-118.
  • Benet-Martinez, V. & John, O. P. (1998). Los cinco grandes across cultures and ethnic groups: Multitrait multimethod analyses of the big five in Spanish and English. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75(3), 729-750.
  • Buluş, M. (1997). Üniversite öğrencilerinde yalnızlık. Pamukkale Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, 1997(3), 82-90.
  • Ceyhan, E. & Ceyhan, A. A. (2011). Üniversite psikolojik danışma merkezine başvuran öğrencilerin yalnızlık ve depresyon düzeyleri. Eğitim ve Bilim, 36(160), 65-80.
  • Chang, E. C., Muyan, M., & Hirsch, J. K. (2015). Loneliness, positive life events, and psychological maladjustment: When good things happen, even lonely people feel better!. Personality and Individual Differences, 86(2015), 150-155.
  • Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). New Jersey: Erlbaum.
  • Cohen, J., Cohen, P., West, S. G., & Aiken, L. S. (2003). Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences (3rd ed.). New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
  • Costa, P. T. & McCrae, R. R. (1992). Normal personality assessment in clinical practice: The NEO Personality Inventory. Psychological Assessment,4(1), 5-13.
  • Costa, P. T., McCrae, R. R., & Dye, D. A. (1991). Facet scales for agreeableness and conscientiousness: A revision of the NEO Personality Inventory. Personality and Individual Differences, 12(9), 887-898.
  • Creswell, J. W. (2012). Educational research: Planning, conducting and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
  • Çeçen, A. R. & Cenkseven, F. (2007). Psychological well being in predicting loneliness among university students. Çukurova Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi, 16(2), 109-118.
  • Demir, A. (1989). UCLA Yalnızlık Ölçeğinin geçerlik ve güvenirliği. Psikoloji Dergisi, 7(23), 14-18.
  • Field, A. (2009). Discovering Statistics Using SPSS (3rd ed.). London: SAGE.
  • Fraenkel, J. R., Wallen, N. E., & Hyun, H. H. (2012). How to design and evaluate research in education (8th ed.). New York: McGraw Hill.
  • Girgin, G. (2009). Evaluation of the factors affecting loneliness and hopelessness among university students in Turkey. Social Behavior and Personality, 37(6), 811-818. doi: 10.2224/sbp.2009.37.6.811
  • Goldberg, L. R. (1990). An alternative description of personality: The big five factor structure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59(6), 1216-1229.
  • Goldberg, L. R. (1992). The development of markers for the big-five factor structure. Psychological Assessment, 4(1), 26-42.
  • Hensley, B., Martin, P., Margrett, J. A., MacDonald, M., Siegler, I. C., Poon, L. W., & The Georgia Centenarian Study. (2012). Life events and personality predicting loneliness among centenarians: Findings from the Georgia Centenarian Study. The Journal of Psychology, 146(1-2), 173-188. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00223980.2011.613874
  • Ho, R. (2014). Handbook of univariate and multivariate data analysis with IBM SPSS (2nd ed.) Boca Raton, FL: CRC.
  • Judge, T. A., Higgins, C. A., Thoresen, C. J., & Barrick, M. R. (1999). The big five personality traits, general mental ability, and career success across the life span. Personnel Psychology, 52(3), 621-652.
  • Karnick, P. M. (2005). Feeling lonely: Theoretical perspectives. Nursing Science Quarterly, 18(1), 7-12.
  • Kılıç, D. Ş. (2014). Üniversite öğrencilerinin yalnızlık ve psikolojik dayanıklılıklarının incelenmesi. Unpublished master’s thesis, Atatürk Üniversitesi Eğitim Bilimleri Enstitüsü, Erzurum.
  • Kızıldağ, S. (2009). Akademik başarının yordayıcısı olarak yalnızlık, boyun eğici davranışlar ve sosyal destek. Unpublished master’s thesis, Hacettepe Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Ankara.
  • Koçak, R. (2003). Duygusal ifade eğitimi programının üniversite öğrencilerinin aleksitimi ve yalnızlık düzeylerine etkisi. Unpublished doctorate dissertation, Ankara Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Ankara.
  • Kong, X., Wei, D., Li, W., Cun, L., Xue, S., Zhang, Q., & Qiu, J. (2015). Neuroticism and extraversion mediate the association between loneliness and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Experimental Brain Research, 233(1), 157-164. doi: 10.1007/s00221-014-40974
  • Lijuan, Q., Rui, Z., Benxian, Y. A. O., & Xiao, Z. (2014). The effect of loneliness and coping style on academic adjustment among college freshmen. Social Behavior & Personality, 42, 969–978. http://dx.doi.org/10.2224/sbp.2014.42.6.969
  • Long, M. V. & Martin, P. (2000). Personality, relationship closeness, and loneliness of oldest old adults and their children. The Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 55(5), 311-319.
  • Mayers, A. (2013). Introduction statistics and SPSS in psychology. Edinburg: Pearson.
  • McCrae, R. R. & Costa, P. T. (1987). Validation of the five-factor model of personality across instruments and observers. Journal of personality and social psychology, 52(1), 81-90.
  • McCrae, R. R. & John, O. P. (1992). An introduction to the five‐factor model and its applications. Journal of personality, 60(2), 175-215.
  • Mount, M. K., Barrick, M. R., Scullen, S. M., & Rounds, J. (2005). Higher‐order dimensions of the big five personality traits and the big six vocational interest types. Personnel Psychology, 58(2), 447-478.
  • Neto, F. & Barros, J. (2003) Predictors of loneliness among students and nuns in Angola and Portugal. The Journal of Psychology, 137(4), 351-362. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00223980309600619
  • Oruç, T. (2013). Üniversite öğrencilerinde psikososyal değişkenlere göre yalnızlık ile otomatik düşünceler ilişkisinin incelenmesi. Unpublished master’s thesis, Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Eğitim Bilimleri Enstitüsü, İzmir.
  • Peplau, L. A. & Perlman, D. (1982). Perspectives on loneliness. In L. A. Peplau & D. Perlman (Eds), Loneliness: A sourcebook of current theory, research and therapy (pp. 1–18). New York: Wiley.
  • Perlman, D. & Peplau, L. A. (1981). Toward a social psychology of loneliness. In S. Duck & R. Gilmour (Eds), Personal relationships in disorder (pp. 31-56). London: Academic.
  • Perlman, D. & Peplau, L. A. (1984). Loneliness research: A survey of empirical findings. In L. A. Peplau & S. E. Goldston (Eds), Preventing the harmful consequences of severe and persistent loneliness (pp. 13-46).Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
  • Roccas, S., Sagiv, L., Schwartz, S. H., & Knafo, A. (2002). The big five personality factors and personal values. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28(6), 789-801.
  • Tabachnick, G. B. & Fidell, L. S. (2013). Using multivariate statistics (6th ed.). London: Pearson.
  • Teppers, E., Klimstra, T. A., Van Damme, C., Luyckx, K., Vanhalst, J., & Goossens, L. (2013). Personality traits, loneliness, and attitudes toward aloneness in adolescence. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 30(8), 1045-1063. doi: 10.1177/0265407513481445
  • Tuzgöl-Dost, M. (2007). Üniversite öğrencilerinin yaşam doyumunun bazı değişkenlere göre
  • incelenmesi. Pamukkale Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, 2(22), 132-143.
  • Vanhalst, J., Klimstra, T. A., Luyckx, K., Scholte, R. H., Engels, R. C., & Goossens, L. (2012). The interplay of loneliness and depressive symptoms across adolescence: Exploring the role of personality traits. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 41(6), 776-787. doi: 10.1007/s10964-011-9726-7
  • Wei, M., Russell, D. W., & Zakalik, R. A. (2005). Adult attachment, social self-efficacy, self-disclosure, loneliness, and subsequent depression for freshman college students: A longitudinal study. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 52(4), 602-614. doi: 10.1037/0022-0167.52.4.602
There are 46 citations in total.

Details

Subjects Studies on Education
Journal Section Article
Authors

Gökay Keldal

Abdullah Atlı

Publication Date September 1, 2016
Submission Date January 3, 2017
Published in Issue Year 2016 Volume: 45 Issue: 2

Cite

APA Keldal, G., & Atlı, A. (2016). University Students’ Personality Traits as Predictors of their Loneliness Levels. Cukurova University Faculty of Education Journal, 45(2), 131-146. https://doi.org/10.14812/cuefd.283250
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