The Relationship between Perceived Social Support and Loneliness among University Students

Abstract

Abstract Loneliness is one of the serious concerns in adolescence which might negatively influence a person’s coping with his/her environment. Therefore, the present study aims to explore the relationship between perceived social support and loneliness among university students. This study is descriptive with correlational design. To this end, using Krejcie & Morgan Table (1970), 327 students were selected through multistage sampling in the University of Kashan. The respondents filled out Perceived Social Support (Zimet et al., 1988) and UCLA Loneliness scale (1980) questionnaires. Stepwise Regression Analysis was run in SPSS-22 to analyze the results. The findings showed that social support from important others, friends and family can best predict loneliness in students, respectively. Overall, they can explain 21% of variance in loneliness. Hence, the students with higher social support scores are less likely to feel lonely.