17 confrontation. In contrast, loneliness anxiety is a negative experience as the result
of alienation. The second way of categorizing forms of loneliness can be seen from its
source. Weiss 1973 distinguishes loneliness into emotional loneliness and social loneliness as cited in Peplau and Goldston, 1984, p. 17. Emotional loneliness is
a subjective feeling manifested by the absence of a personal or close relationship. The antecedents of this kind of loneliness are divorce, bereavement, etc.
Meanwhile, social loneliness is a subjective feeling caused by the lack of a sufficient number of friends or an adequate network of social relationship. The
antecedents of this form of loneliness are losing of a job, being rejected by peers, feeling unacceptable and not belonging to a community.
The third dimension is duration of loneliness. Young 1982 divides loneliness into three types as cited in Peplau and Goldston, 1984, p. 17.
Transient loneliness or everyday loneliness is the shortest duration of loneliness which includes brief and occasional lonely moods. Situational or transitional
loneliness occurs when people who have satisfying relationships have to undergo a specific change, such as divorce, bereavement or moving to a new town. The
last is chronic loneliness which occurs when a person lacks of satisfactory social relations for a period of two or more years.
c. The Causes of Loneliness
Many factors can contribute to the experience of loneliness. Perlman and Peplau 1984 distinguish two kinds of factors: predisposing factors and
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
