Loneliness and Relationally Competent Communication

Abstract

Loneliness is seen as a common social experience, best understood through the mechanisms whereby actors attribute causes for their loneliness. From an attributional perspective, the effects of loneliness chronicity on relational, or communicative, competence are delineated in three hypotheses and empirically tested among dyads involved in a conversational exercise. The hypotheses are generally supported, revealing that chronically lonely people generally do not perceive themselves or others as relationally competent and are perceived as incompetent by others as well.