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The Role Everyday Spirituality Plays on Loneliness
Results
The current study had 40 participants with gender results as 60% male, 40% female. The
Racial category results were 40% white, 15% Asian, 40% Hispanic/ Latino, 5% Black/ African
American, and zero other & American Indian/ Alaskan Native (Figure 1). The race results are the
only demographic shown in Figure 1 due to the relevance to the study. The age of the participants
ranged from 20-48, had a mean age of 23.15, and had a standard deviation of 4.406.
Figure 1
Demographic Data of Racial Category
. The current study hypothesized that there was a relationship between spirituality and
loneliness, as spirituality scores raise, then loneliness scores will decrease. A Pearson’s r
correlation did not reveal a significant correlation between spirituality and loneliness, r (40) =
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0.75, p = 0.324 (one-tailed). Table 1 shows the SPSS output from the Pearson’s r test ran in IBM
SPSS Statistics (version 28) predictive analytics software.
Table 1
SPSS Correlation Output
Discussion
Due to the lack of consistent research findings on the relationship between spirituality and
loneliness, the goal of the current study was to explore the field by including relevant
demographics to understand a potential cultural factor to the results. It was expected that since
loneliness can lead to mental health issues, and spirituality could point to an increase in mental
health, in various racial culture groups, then increased loneliness correlates to decreased
spirituality (Hackney & Sanders, 2003; Rasic et al., 2011; Gallegos & Segrin, 2019; Martins,
2022). The null hypothesis failed to be rejected, and there was not a significant correlation
between the loneliness and spirituality scores, therefore there was also no cultural factor at play
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on the findings. This is because since the initial hypothesis was not significant, then it cannot be
said that the racial culture group had an effect on the correlation that was no present.
One limitation to the current study was the limited age range of the participants. Although
the range is from 20-48, the mean is much closer to 20 than 48. The results of the demographics
show that the age 48 is an outlier of from the rest of the participants, whereas the age ranged
focused mostly near the mean of 23.15. One potential reasoning, or confound, for the study could
be that that the average participants were classified as generation z (10-25 years old), and the
overall spirituality and religious affiliation in generation z is decreasing, as they attempt to find
self-empowering solutions (Camargo et al., 2019). This points to the idea that a larger age range
could have offered a bigger range of spirituality affiliation and a more accurate population
representation, therefore receiving different results. Another limitation of the current study was
that the survey was given through a social media platform (Instagram), and social media has been
previously shown to lead to an increase in mental health issues that lead to loneliness (Abi-Jaude
et al., 2020; Gallegos & Segrin, 2019). Since a social media platform was used to distribute the
survey, it shows the participants are all users of social media and, and therefore, there is a
possibility of an increase in mental health among the participants leading to an increase in
feelings of loneliness. Using a different source to distribute the surveys might have provided a
more representative sample.
Rasic and colleagues (2011) found a correlation between spirituality and less suicidal
ideations, signifying higher rates of social support pointing towards lower rates of loneliness.
This contradicts the current study which showed no significant correlation between spirituality
and loneliness, yet the current study did not observe specifically suicidal ideations, yet it
measured loneliness with the UCLA Loneliness Scale (Wongpakaran et al., 2020). There was also
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a similarity between the studies whereas in Rasic and colleagues’ (2011) study, there was no
significant correlation between religious attendance and anxiety and depression, and religion and
spirituality are sometimes used interchangeably, therefore this could be seen as a similar
comparison to the one in the current study. To determine whether the multiple comparisons in the
study contrasted or compared to the current study, one would have to explore the operational
definitions of each variable at hand. Gallegos and Segrin’s (2019) study was comparable to the
current study since it focused on Latinos and 41% of the participants in the current study were
Latino, yet the study’s showed differing results. It was found that spirituality led to a protection of
loneliness leading to better mental health, whereas the current study found no correlation between
spirituality and loneliness, yet the current study found a limitation in age range of survey
distribution source that Gallegos and Segrin’s (2019) study did not have. The more accurate
population representative sample could be a reason for the contradicting results. As shown in the
numerous studies, there is varying results on whether spirituality and religion relate to mental
health, yet Hackney & Sanders (2003) conducted a meta-analysis of the differing studies that
show how important operationalizing the definitions are to comparing results.
Although there was no significant correlation between spirituality and loneliness among
the participants in the current study, this shows the variability and uniqueness of humankind. Past
studies have shown positive correlations regarding older age groups and loneliness and/or
spirituality, yet the current study was limited to those around the age of 23 who use social media.
(Martins et al., 2020). The younger generations experience spirituality in diverse ways, and some
feel loneliness in diverse ways, yet the study presents how unique each person is that there is no
specific relationship between these two variables.
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Future research could be conducted with a wider age range and through a different source
of distribution to receive a sample more representative of the population. Although the current
study shows variability within those of younger generations, future research could help indicate
what roles spirituality and loneliness play in those of different age groups, in different walks of
life. Since different racial cultures were pretty well represented in the current study, there is
always ways to create research around differing cultures, such as different religious cultures.
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References
Abi-Jaoude, E., Naylor, K. T., & Pignatiello, A. (2020). Smartphones, social media use and youth
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https://doi.org/10.1080/13674676.2020.1767553
Gallegos, & Segrin, C. (2019). Exploring the mediating role of loneliness in the relationship
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