Role of Socio-Economic Status and Social Support in Loneliness among College Students

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to examine the role of socio-economic status and social support in loneliness among college students. The sample of the study consisted of 400 college (200 male and 200 female) students drawn from different degree colleges of Varanasi city using random sampling technique. The age of students ranged from 17 to 22 (mean=19.61, SD=1.79) years. Kuppuswamy Socio-Economic Status Scale (1962) revised by Sood and Bindra (2022), PGI Social Support Questionnaire (Nehra, Kulhara and Verma, 1988) and Loneliness Scale (Praveen Kumar Jha, 1997) were used to collect the data. Obtained data were analyzed by using Pearson’s product-moment correlation and linear regression analysis. The correlation results showed that loneliness was significantly negatively correlated with socio-economic status (r = -.116*) and social support (r = -.407***). Linear regression analysis also showed that socio-economic status and social support emerged as significant predictors of loneliness.