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Hypothesis: It is predicted that women who have a higher rate of spirituality will have
lower rates of loneliness.
Results
The sample size of this study was 20 participants. One hundred percent of these
participants identified their gender as female. For this study the age, race and martial status
were not asked of the female participants, but it was verified that they were all legal age.
This study was done to examine the relationship of spirituality and loneliness in
women. The test used was regression analysis (see Table 1). A linear regression analysis was
conducted to evaluate the prediction for lower levels of loneliness given the higher levels of
spirituality and was found not to be significant F (1,18) = .673, p = .423. The regression
equation for predicting lower levels of loneliness is Y’ = .068x + 1.729. The correlation
between lower levels of loneliness and higher levels of spirituality is 0.190. Approximately
3.61% of the variance in the lower levels of loneliness was accounted for by its linear
relationship with the higher levels of spirituality. The null hypothesis is not rejected.
Table 1
Simple regression analysis for spirituality and loneliness
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Figure 1
Higher levels of spirituality did not predict lower levels of loneliness.
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Discussion
The aim of this study was to predict that women who have a higher spirituality level
will have a lower level of loneliness. Results suggest that having a higher spirituality level
does not predict lower levels of loneliness in women. Convenience sampling was found to be
a limitation in this study since it was not a true random sample of the population. Another
limitation was the selected sample was too generalized and should have included more
specifics about the participants.
Although this study did not support the hypothesis it does not mean that spirituality
and loneliness are not correlated. A different study has shown support that spirituality can
help with mental health issues like loneliness, although its sampling was primarily Latino and
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non-white Latino, limiting the results from being generalized to other races (Gallegos, 2019).
Another study, using similar measurement scales on spirituality and loneliness, that was done
on male and female college students found that spiritualty did help with loneliness, again
supporting that spirituality and loneliness are correlated (Bokaie, 2017). Since it was found
that older women were more lonely than older men and that spirituality can help with
loneliness, more detailed studies need to be done (Dahlberg, 2014, Bokaie, 2017).
Since it can be found that spirituality does truly help with mental health issues like
loneliness, then new methods of treatment that focus more on spirituality can help those
struggling with loneliness. A similar study that can be built from this but would ask more
details of the participants (marital status, age, and race) who identify as female can possibly
see a change in the results of the study. The results may find similar correlations like the
other studies mentioned here, giving more support that high spirituality levels can predict
lower levels of loneliness.
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References
Bokaie, M., & Enjezab, B. (2017). The correlation between Spiritual Health and Loneliness
among Students in Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran.
Health, Spirituality & Medical Ethics Journal, 4(4), 6–12.
Dahlberg, L., Andersson, L., McKee, K. J., & Lennartsson, C. (2015). Predictors of
loneliness among older women and men in Sweden: A national longitudinal study.
Aging & Mental Health, 19(5), 409-417. 10.1080/13607863.2014.944091
Gallegos, M. L., & Segrin, C. (2019). Exploring the mediating role of loneliness in the
relationship between spirituality and health: Implications for the Latino health
paradox. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 11(3), 308–318.
https://doi.org/10.1037/rel0000180
