Study on the effect of self consistency and congruence, locus of control and coping style on loneliness of impoverished undergraduates

Abstract

Purposes: To investigate influence of self consistency and congruence, locus of control and coping style on loneliness.Methods: 330 impoverished undergraduates were measured by the UCLA loneliness scale (UCLALS), the self consistency and congruence scale (SCCS), the Internality, Powerful Others and Chance Scale (IPCS), the Trait Coping Style Questionnaire (TCSQ). Results: There is main significant effect in the loneliness of different gender and only-child or none-only-child of the impoverished undergraduates (P<0.01). And there is no significant interactive effect between gender and only-child or none-only-child in the loneliness of impoverished undergraduates (P>0.05). The loneliness of impoverished undergraduates is significant correlated with self inconsistency, self agility, self stiffness, internality, powerful others, chance, positive coping style and negative coping style (P<0.05, or P<0.01). Regression analysis shows that self inconsistency, self agility, self stiffness, internality, powerful others, chance, positive coping style and negative coping style can effectively predict the loneliness of impoverished undergraduates (β=0.286, 0.156, -0.176, -0.165, 0.140, 0.175, -0.263, 0.170), and it can explain the total variance of 41.2%. Conclusions: Self inconsistency, self agility, self stiffness, internality, powerful others, chance have direct impact on the impoverished undergraduates' loneliness and indirect impact on it through positive coping and negative coping. © 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.