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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
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correlation did not reveal a significant correlation between spirituality and loneliness, r (40) =
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
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significant correlation between the loneliness and spirituality scores, therefore there was also
no cultural factor at play 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
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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 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
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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.
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
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Gallegos, & Segrin, C. (2019). Exploring the mediating role of loneliness in the relationship
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