Coping with loneliness The Meaning of Experience and Causes of Loneliness

Abstract

A questionnaire, which included some questions for measuring different strategies of coping with loneliness (author A. Rokach) has been translated and administered to 484 subjects aged 16-90 years. Principal factor analysis was used, and six interpretable factors were extracted. Three of them (Thinking and acceptance, Social support network, Religion and faith) were almost the same as the factors which were obtained by Ami Rokach. The other three factors (Distance and denial, Higher activity, Self-development and understanding) have substantial differences in comparison with the factors which were obtained in Canadian research. The differences could be, in part, interpreted in terms of cultural differences between the Canadian and Croatian sample.