Loneliness and Negative Affective Conditions in Adults: Is There Any Room for Hope in Predicting Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms?

Muyan M., Chang E. C., Jilani Z., Yu T., Lin J., Hirsch J. K.

JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY, vol.150, no.3, pp.333-341, 2016 (SSCI) identifier identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 150 Issue: 3
  • Publication Date: 2016
  • Doi Number: 10.1080/00223980.2015.1039474
  • Journal Name: JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY
  • Journal Indexes: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus
  • Page Numbers: pp.333-341
  • Keywords: depressive symptoms, adults, anxiety, loneliness, hope, ANXIOUS SYMPTOMS, INVENTORY, PERFECTIONISM, RELIABILITY, MODERATOR, VALIDITY, VERSION, BELONG, SENSE, RISK
  • Middle East Technical University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

This study examined the role of hope in understanding the link between loneliness and negative affective conditions (viz., anxiety and depressive symptoms) in a sample of 318 adults. As expected, loneliness was found to be a significant predictor of both anxiety and depressive symptoms. Noteworthy, hope was found to significantly augment the prediction of depressive symptoms, even after accounting for loneliness. Furthermore, we found evidence for a significant Loneliness x Hope interaction effect in predicting anxiety. A plot of the interaction confirmed that the association between loneliness and anxiety was weaker among high, compared to low, hope adults. Some implications of the present findings are discussed.