Relationship between Acquiring the Capacity to be Alone and Internal Object in Adolescence

Abstract

The capacity to be alone (CBA) is a concept proposed by Winnicott. A scale for assessing CBA that can measure anxiety in both solitude and individuation was developed, and the relationship between acquiring CBA and the internal object was investigated. University students (N = 220) responded to a questionnaire. Factor analysis of their responses using principle factor method and Varimax rotation indicated that “the Scale of Anxiety about Being Alone” consisted of two factors: “Avoidance of intimacy” “Anxiety about solitude”．Cronbach’s alpha coefficients of the two factors were indicative of sufficient reliability (.91 and .90, respectively). Moreover the difference in the inner object among the following groups: “High-CBA”, “Anxiety about solitude”, “Anxiety about intimacy” and “Low-CBA”, divided by each factor score was analyzed using a one-way analysis of variance. The results indicated that “High-CBA” was characterized by an inconsistent object rather than by a good, or a bad object. The group with anxiety about solitude, which mostly tended to imagine a good object, also tended to recollect an inconsistent object. This result suggested they were vulnerable to object constancy.