Gender differences in the experience of loneliness among adolescents in Jakarta

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26555/humanitas.v16i1.11311

Keywords:

adolescent, gender, loneliness, urban

Abstract

Adolescence is a transition period from childhood to adulthood. During this period, adolescents are prone to problems, one of those problems being loneliness. This research aimed to find out gender differences in the experience of loneliness among adolescents in Jakarta. Six hundred sixty-two participants, which consisted of 318 male and 344 female students aged between 15-20 years old, were selected from five schools by using multi-stage random sampling. 6-Item (short) De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scales were used to measure loneliness. Data was collected through school-based research conducted on senior high school students in the Special Capital Region of Jakarta. The results show that there are significant differences in loneliness between male and female adolescents in overall, emotional and social dimensions. Female adolescents had significantly higher scores of loneliness compared to male adolescents, not only overall but also in emotional and social dimensions.

Author Biographies

Komang Bara Wedaloka, Universitas Indonesia, Indonesia

Magister Sains Psikologi Perkembangan, Fakultas Psikologi

Sherly Saragih Turnip, Universitas Indonesia, Indonesia

Bagian Psikologi Klinis, Fakultas Psikologi

References

Brehm, S. S., Miller, R. S., Perlman, D., & Campbell, S. M. (2002). Intimate relationships (3rd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Cacioppo, J. T., & Hawkley, L. C. (2009). Perceived social isolation and cognition. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 13(10), 447–454. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2009.06.005

Chen, L.-J., & Chung, S.-K. (2007). Loneliness, social connectedness, and family income among undergraduate females and males in Taiwan. Social Behavior and Personality: An International Journal, 35(10), 1353–1364. https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.2007.35.10.1353

Cheng, H., & Furnham, A. (2002). Personality, peer relations, and self-confidence as predictors of happiness and loneliness. Journal of Adolescence, 25, 327–339. https://doi.org/10.1006/yjado.475

De Jong Gierveld, J., Van Tilburg, T., & Dykstra, P. (2006). Loneliness and Social Isolation. In A. Vangelisti & D. Perlman (Eds.). In The Cambridge Handbook of Personal Relationships (Cambridge Handbooks in Psychology, pp. 485–500). https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511606632.027

De Jong Gierveld, J., & Van Tilburg, T. (2006). A 6-item scale for overall, emotional, and social loneliness: Confirmatory tests on survey data. Research on Aging, 28(5), 582–598. https://doi.org/10.1177/0164027506289723

Engels, R. C. M. E., Finkenauer, C., Meeus, W., & Deković, M. (2001). Parental attachment and adolescents’ emotional adjustment: The associations with social skills and relational competence. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 48(4), 428–439. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.48.4.428

Field, A. (2013). Discovering statistics using IBM SPSS Statistics (4th ed.). London: SAGE Publications.

Garvin. (2017). Hubungan kecerdasan sosial dengan kesepian pada remaja (The relationship between social intelligence with loneliness among adolescent). Jurnal Muara Ilmu Sosial, Humaniora, Dan Seni, 1(2), 93–99.

González-Jiménez, A. J., & Hernández-Romera, M. del M. (2014). Emotional dependency based on the gender of young adolescents in Almeria, Spain. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 132, 527–532. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.04.348

Goossens, L. (2006). Emotion, affect, and loneliness in adolescence. In S. Jackson & L. Goossens (Eds.). In Handbook of Adolescent Development (pp. 51–70). New York, NY, US: Psychology Press.

Gravetter, F. J., & Forzano, L.-A. B. (2012). Research methods for the behavioral sciences (4th ed.). Belmont: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Gravetter, F. J., & Wallnau, L. B. (2017). Statistics for the behavioral sciences (10th ed.). Boston: Cengage Learning.

Gürsoy, F., & Bıçakçı, M. Y. (2006). A study on the loneliness level of adolescents. Journal of Qafqaz University, 140–146.

Harris, R. A., Qualter, P., & Robinson, S. J. (2013). Loneliness trajectories from middle childhood to pre-adolescence: Impact on perceived health and sleep disturbance. Journal of Adolescence, 36, 1295–1304. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2012.12.009

Heinrich, L. M., & Gullone, E. (2006). The clinical significance of loneliness: A literature review. Clinical Psychology Review, 26, 695–718. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2006.04.002

Karnick, P. M. (2005). Feeling lonely: Theoretical perspectives. Nursing Science Quarterly, 18(1), 7–12. https://doi.org/10.1177/0894318404272483

Kaur, J., Cheong, S. M., Naidu, B. M., Kaur, G., Manickam, M. A., Noor, M. M., … Rosman, A. (2014). Prevalence and correlates of depression among adolescents in Malaysia. Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health, 26(5S), 53S-62S. https://doi.org/10.1177/1010539514544356

Kelly, B. D., O’Callaghan, E., Waddington, J. L., Feeney, L., Browne, S., Scully, P. J., … Larkin, C. (2010). Schizophrenia and the city: A review of literature and prospective study of psychosis and urbanicity in Ireland. Schizophrenia Research, 116, 75–89. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.schres.2009.10.015

Knox, D., Vail-Smith, K., & Zusman, M. (2007). The lonely college male. International Journal of Men’s Health, 6(3), 273–279. https://doi.org/10.3149/jmh.0603.273

Krause-Parello, C. A. (2008). Loneliness in the school setting. The Journal of School Nursing, 24(2), 66–70. https://doi.org/10.1177/10598405080240020301

Lasgaard, M., Goossens, L., Bramsen, R. H., Trillingsgaard, T., & Elklit, A. (2011). Different sources of loneliness are associated with different forms of psychopathology in adolescence. Journal of Research in Personality. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2010.12.005

Lee, R. M., & Robbins, S. B. (2000). Understanding social connectedness in college women and men. Journal of Counseling and Development, 78(4), 484–491. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1556-6676.2000.tb01932.x

McWhirter, B. T., Besett-Alesch, T. M., Horibata, J., & Gat, I. (2002). Loneliness in high risk adolescents: The role of coping, self-esteem, and empathy. Journal of Youth Studies, 5(1), 69–84. https://doi.org/10.1080/1367626012011177 9

Parker, J. G., Low, C. M., Walker, A. R., & Gamm, B. K. (2005). Friendship jealousy in young adolescents: Individual differences and links to sex, self-esteem, aggression, and social adjustment. Developmental Psychology, 41(1), 235–250. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.41.1.235

Pedersen, S., Vitaro, F., Barker, E. D., & Borge, A. I. H. (2007). The timing of middle-childhood peer rejection and friendship: Linking early behavior to early-adolescent adjustment. Child Development, 78(4), 1037–1051. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2007.01051.x

Pinquart, M., & Sörensen, S. (2001). Gender differences in self-concept and psychological well-being in old age: A meta-analysis. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 56B(4), 195–213. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/56.4.P195

Qualter, P., & Munn, P. (2002). The separateness of social and emotional loneliness in childhood. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 43(2), 233–244. https://doi.org/10.1111/1469-7610.00016

Rubin, K. H., Coplan, R. J., & Bowker, J. C. (2009). Social withdrawal in childhood. Annual Review of Psychology, 60, 141–171. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.60.110707.163642

Santrock, J. W. (2016). Adolescence (16th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Education.

Schinka, K. C., Van Dulmen, M. H. M., Bossarte, R., & Swahn, M. (2012). Association between loneliness and suicidality during middle childhood and adolescence: Longitudinal effects and the role of demographic characteristics. The Journal of Psychology, 146(1–2), 105–118. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223980.2011.584084

Umami, R. (2015). Gambaran loneliness dan kecenderungan psikotik pada remaja yang ditinggal orangtua bekerja sebagai buruh migran di luar negeri (Loneliness and psychotic tendencies in adolescents who are left behind by parents working as migrant workers abroad). (Undergraduate Thesis), Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta.

Van Os, J., Kenis, G., & Rutten, B. P. F. (2010). The environment and schizophrenia. Nature, 468, 203–212. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature09563

Yang, J. (2009). Relationship between gender traits and loneliness: The role of self-esteem. Waltham: Brandeis University.

Zhang, F., You, Z., Fan, C., Gao, C., Cohen, R., Hsueh, Y., & Zhou, Z. (2014). Friendship quality, social preference, proximity prestige, and self-perceived social competence: Interactive influences on children’s loneliness. Journal of School Psychology, 52, 511–526. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2014.06.001

Downloads

Published

2019-02-21