Loneliness and Their Relationship to Explicit and Implicit Self-Esteem

Yuanyan Hu, Yule Jin, Chunmei Hu, Huamin He

School of Education, Chongqing University of Arts and Sciences, Chongqing, China.
School of Education, Chongqing University of Arts and Sciences, Chongqing, China; Laboratory of Cognition and Mental Health, Chongqing University of Arts and Sciences, Chongqing, China.
School of Education, Chongqing University of Arts and Sciences, Chongqing, China; School of Education, Zhangzhou Normal University, Zhangzhou, China.

DOI: 10.4236/psych.2013.45064                

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between self-esteem and loneliness, especially whether the discrepancies between explicit and implicit self-esteem was associated with loneliness. In the present study, UCLA Loneliness Scale (UCLA), Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) and Implicit Association Test were used to collect data, 113 undergraduates participated in it. Findings showed that individuals higher in explicit (but not implicit) self-esteem had lower loneliness. Furthermore, we found that the undergraduates’ feelings of loneliness were significantly related to the direction of the discrepancy between explicit and implicit self-esteem. These results not only enriched the research about the loneliness, but also the discrepant self-esteem.

Keywords

Loneliness; Self-Esteem; Explicit; Implicit; Discrepant

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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