The Causes of Loneliness

18 precipitating factors p. 23. Predisposing factors are factors that make people vulnerable to loneliness while precipitating factors are factors that trigger loneliness. The first predisposing factor is a person’s characteristics which are associated with loneliness such as shyness, low self-esteem, self-consciousness, introversion, and lack of social skill. Situational factors are able to predispose people to loneliness. Some basic situational factors are time, distance and money. For instance, a student who takes a lot of courses and gets tight schedule may have little time to make friends and interact well with his or her friends. Cultural differences in values also considered as predisposing factors. Perlman and Peplau 1998 consider that cultural differences in value seem likely to affect the experience of loneliness p. 573. One example of culture differences that can lead to loneliness is individualistic values. American culture has been characterized as being individualistic and it influences their values. American values encourage personal independence and the attainment of individual ’s goals. In contrast, other cultures in Asia are more collectivistic where the values encourage loyalty to family and harmony in social relations. The individualistic in American culture and the collectivistic in Asian Culture are the examples of predisposing factors towards loneliness. According to Perlman and Peplau 1984, precipitating factor is an event which usually changes a person’s actual or desiredneeded relationship p. 23. The examples of precipitating factors are the loss of an important relationship through death, divorce, or breaking up. In addition, Cutrona 1982 in her study 19 has found that leaving family and friends to begin college, breaking up of romantic relationship, and having problems with friends or relative are the three most frequent events that precipitate loneliness among college students as cited in Peplau and Goldston, 1984, p. 26. Indirectly, it can be said that precipitating factors mostly come from a troubled relationship with others. Perlman and Peplau 1998 say that loneliness can also arise from the nature of a person’s actual relationship and dissatisfaction with the quality of existing relationship. In addition, Perlman and Peplau 1984 also state that loneliness results from a mismatch between a person’s actual relationship and a person’s needed or desired relationship. In short, a failure to establish desired relationship and dissatisfaction with an actual relationship can lead to loneliness.

d. The Effects of Loneliness

Loneliness is an unpleasant experience and it is usually seen as a negative experience with negative effects as well. Russel 1982 mentions that people with loneliness usually feel depressed, anxious, unhappy, and shy. In addition, Jones, Freeman, and Goswick 1981 also mention that those who are lonely express low self-esteem as cited in Baron and Byrne, 1974, p. 522. Those negative feelings of lonely people will make them have difficulty to communicate and incapable of making and keeping friends, which may lead to antisocial behavior. A lonely individual is likely to feel left out and spend time without companionship each day because loneliness may cause the inability of establishing relationship. Russel, Peplau, and Cutrona 1980 state that those who 20 are lonely would have fewer friends and engage in fewer social activities as cited in Baron and Byrne, 1994, p. 522. Having no one to talk to and no one to share with are painful since the lonely people distance themselves from others. Herbert 1995 also adds that social phobia is mostly likely to develop when lonely young people begin to distance themselves from others in adolescent stage as cited in Baron and Byrne, 1994, p. 284. People with social phobia will avoid others as a way to protect themselves from embarrassments and humiliation. According to Kimnel and Weiner 1985, loneliness also fosters the feeling of alienation and social inadequacy. Those who are lonely usually express low self-esteem and lack of confidence, which make them feel inferior to other people and believe that they are unworthy of attention. Page 1991 mentions that an extremely lonely person with worst feeling of despair considers that life is hopeless and it can sometimes lead to suicide as cited in Baron and Byrne, 1994, p. 284. In conclusion, loneliness is an unpleasant experience since it has negative effects for the person who has loneliness problem.

C. Theoretical Framework

Based on the formulated problems, this study intends to reveal the causes of loneliness as experienced by Toru Watanabe, which is depicted in Haruki Murakami’s Norwegian Wood. In order to find the causes of loneliness and help the writer to answer the research problems, psychological approach is used as the approach of this study. Psychological approach enables the writer to explore the major character’s personality. The consideration of using this approach is also