Perceptions of family role structure among women experiencing subjective loneliness
Introduction. The subjective experience of loneliness is a complex psychological phenomenon that is not limited to a person's objective social status. In the context of women's experiences, this feeling is often associated less with the formal absence of a partner and more with a deep personal sense of isolation and separation, as well as an unmet need for emotional intimacy. The aim of the work was to study the peculiarities of ideas about the family role structure in women experiencing subjective loneliness, considering the role structure of the parental and ancestral family. Materials and methods. The study was conducted using questionnaires. Three hundred women participated as respondents and were divided into four groups. Methods. A correlation analysis was carried out using Spearman's rank correlation coefficient to determine the features of the relationship between the experience of subjective loneliness and women's ideas about family role structures. To confirm the reliability of the methods used, the internal consistency coefficient α (alpha) was calculated using the Kronbach method. Methods: “Methodology of subjective loneliness” (UCLA Loneliness Scale) by D. Russell and L. Peploe, M. Ferguson; questionnaire “Family roles” by A.V. Chernikov; “Questionnaire on the distribution of roles in the family” by Yu.E. Alyoshina, L.Ya. Gozman and E.M. Dubovskaya; questionnaire “Role expectations and claims in marriage” by A.N. Volkova. Results of the study and their discussion. High rates of loneliness are observed in women who grew up with objectively single women of two generations (mother and grandmother) (241.47, p<0.001Among women whose mothers are unmarried and whose grandmothers are married, loneliness is negatively correlated with involvement in the role of interaction with a father (r = -0.243, p < 0.05) and positively correlated with involvement in the role of interaction with a grandmother (r = 0.255, p < 0.05). In other words, women who grew up in single-parent families do not consider their fathers capable of fulfilling family responsibilities, and experience a pronounced sense of loneliness as a result. Among women whose mothers and grandmothers were not married, loneliness was positively correlated with the grandmother role (r = 0.297, p < 0.01). There was a positive correlation between loneliness and role expectations on the parent-teacher scale (r = 0.247, p < 0.05), and a negative correlation with role expectations on the social activity scale (r = -0.332, p < 0.01). In other words, women who were raised by a single mother and grandmother tend to be self-centred when it comes to raising children and often feel lonely. Conclusion: Family structure and the distribution of roles within it significantly impact a woman's subjective experience of loneliness.
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