Association between early life events, loneliness and fear of negative emotions among female students

Pages: 1749-1753
M. Mahalakshmi, K. Sumaiya, and Ayesha Arif Zinna (Department of Psychology, JBAS College for Women, Chennai, Tamil Nadu)

Early life experiences can have a significant impact on later life experiences. There is increasing evidence that suggests that negative experiences in childhood seemed to be linked to emotional and psychological difficulties in later life. The study examined the relationships between early life events, loneliness and fear of negative emotions among high school, undergraduate and postgraduate students. The study also investigated if there were any differences in loneliness, fear of negative emotions, and early life events between high school, undergraduate and postgraduate students. The sample consisted of 150 female students, out of which 50 were high school students, 50 were undergraduate students, 50 were postgraduate students. The students were selected from 3 schools and 2 colleges in Chennai city. The students were administered the UCLA loneliness scale developed by Russell, Peplau, and Ferguson (1978). Early Life Events Scale by Gilbert et al. (2003) and the fear of negative emotions scale developed by Gilbert, McEwan, Catarino, and Balao (2014). Pearson correlation coefficient was used to investigate the relationship between loneliness, early life events and fear of negative emotions. ANOVA was used to examine the difference in loneliness, early life events and fear of negative emotions among high school students, under graduate students and post graduate students. The analysis revealed that loneliness was significantly, positively correlated with early life events and fear of negative emotions. There was a significant positive correlation between early life events and fear of negative emotions. There were no significant differences in loneliness and early life events among high school, undergraduate and postgraduate students. High school students had significantly higher fear of negative emotions compared to postgraduate students. There were no significant differences in fear of negative emotions between high school and undergraduate students and between undergraduate and postgraduate students.