PSYCHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF LONELINESS EXPERIENCES IN MATURE AND ELDERLY WOMEN
Abstract
Relevance. The article is devoted to the study of the phenomenon of female loneliness, which is considered as a multifaceted socio-psychological and existential phenomenon that acquires particular acuteness in the conditions of modern social transformations. Special attention is paid to the gender-role specificity of the experience of loneliness by middle-aged and elderly women.
Methodology: Sampling. The empirical study was conducted with the participation of 30 women aged 36–64 years (average age – 55 years).
Methods. For diagnostics, the methods “Loneliness Scale” (UCLA Loneliness Scale, version 3) and “Situational and Personality Anxiety Scale” by Ch. D. Spielberger – Yu. L. Khanin (STAI) were used, as well as a biographical questionnaire for collecting personal data of female participants in the study.
Results. In a study of the experience of loneliness by middle-aged and elderly women, it was empirically established that the majority of the subjects (56.7%) have an average level of loneliness. A statistically significant positive correlation was found between the level of loneliness and personal anxiety (r = 0.63, p < 0.01), which indicates the existence of a relationship between the feeling of loneliness and emotional tension, a tendency to worry, and the expectation of negative events. A positive relationship was also recorded between age and loneliness indicators (r = 0.47): an increase in the level of loneliness is observed in old age, which may be due to a decrease in the number of social contacts and the experience of losses.
Conclusions: The results of the study substantiate the need to develop targeted psychological support programs for middle-aged and elderly women as tools to overcome their anxiety and form resourceful loneliness.
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