Behaviour Change Vol. 8, No. 4, 1991, pp. 167-173 Pergamon Press Australia

Understanding Loneliness among Students with Learning Disabilities

Malka Margalit School of hkiucation Tel Aviv University

The aim of this study was to investigate the feelings of loneliness among students with learning disabilities (LD) and to identify subgroups according to their loneliness characteristics. The sample consisted of 76 students from seven self- contained classes for LD students within regular schools in all parts of Israel. The instruments included self-reported loneliness and social skills scales, teacher ratings of behaviour disorders, and peer ratings of social acceptance. The following factors predicted the students' feelings of loneliness: peer acceptance, social skills, and computer activities, explaining 32% of the variance. Using cluster analysis for the loneliness and behaviour disorder factors, four subgroups of students were identified. They differed along their levels of loneliness, presence of disruptive behaviour (internal validation) and social skills (external validation). The resilts emphasised the need to consider loneliness levels and manifestations of disru~tive behaviour in attemDts to conce~tualise these students' difficulties and to plan individualised inte&ention poirams. Further research, focusing on the impact of the intervention on the subjective experience of loneliness, may advance our understanding of the students' needs.

Professionals' and parents'concern and effort that focus on understanding social difficulties among students with learning disabilities (LD) have indicated that the greatest need for intervention lies within different aspects of 'making friends', especially the processes of becoming socially involved and of avoiding loneliness (Gresham, 1985). According to Vaughn (1985), LD students are at risk for being socially rejected and feeling isolated. Observations revealed that they are often uninvolved and ignored by their peers. Their social relationships with peers and adults pro- duce frustrations, a lower self-concept, and loneliness (Lovitt, 1987). Effective intemen- tion planning necessitates detailed research into various aspects of these students' social difficulties.

Address: Malka Margalit Chairperson, Department of Educational Sciences School of Education Tel-Aviv University Ramat-Aviv Tel-Aviv 69978 Israel

The author wishes to acknowledge the editorial assistance of Dee M. Ankonina.

Although a vast amount of research cur- rently exists concerning social difficulties among these children, their subjective per- ceptions of social competence have seldom been studied. The few existing investigations indicate that the LD learner tends to minimise his or her social skills difficulties. These find- ings (Cartledge, 1987) suggest that students with LD need to develop greater understand- ing of themselves and their difficulties, as part of effective social training programs.

Loneliness can be defined (Mullins, John- son, & Andersson, 1987; Peplau & Perlman, 1982) as an affective experience in which the individual is aware of being apart from others and vaguely aware of needing others, along with the experience of having social contacts that are not emotionally supportive and/or satisfying at either a quantitative or qualit- ative level. Loneliness reflects a breakdown in social interactions and was defined by Peplau and Perlman (1982) as the unpleasant experience that occurs when a person's net- work of social relations is deficient in some important way, either quantitatively or qual-

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itatively. These authors proposed that lone- liness occurs when the individual perceives a discrepancy between two factors: the desired and the achieved pattern of social interaction. Spitzberg and Hurt (1987) defined loneliness as a deficit in desired inter- actions, resulting in a state of dissatisfaction with regard to various aspects of interper- sonal relationships. In these terms, if social relations can be treated as a particular class of reinforcement, loneliness can be viewed in part as a response to the absence of impor- tant social reinforcements (Young, 1982).

Mullins, Johnson, and Andersson (1987) pointed out that frequently the terms 'lone- liness' and 'alone' are used interchangeably, as if they refer to the same experience. Lone- liness should be studied as distinct from being alone, and being alone does not mean suf- fering from loneliness. Many isolated stu- dents may not feel lonely, and some well- integrated students may sense feelings of loneliness. Research in this area has focused on nondisabled children (Asher, Parkhurst, Hymel, & Williams, 1990), whereas relatively little is known about the subjective experience of loneliness and social competence among children with learning disabilities. Concern and exploration of such feelings appear vitally important, as these students are con- ceptualised to be deficient in their social skills and are considered rejected by their peers.

Among non-handicapped children, the relations between the subjective experience of loneliness and peer acceptance have com- prised a focus of research interest. Asher et al. (1990) surveyed several studies examining self-reported loneliness and the sociometric rating that non-handicapped children receive; however, it remains unclear from this research survey whether children who are poorly accepted by their peers find their social world to be lonely and dissatisfying. The authors concluded that correlations between peer acceptance and loneliness feelings were moderately negative, and they reported a wide variability in the loneliness levels found among the rejected children. A possible explanation for these inconsistent findings

may be that several behavioural subtypes can be identified within the rejected group, dif- fering in their degree of reported loneliness. Rubin, LeMare, and Lollis (1990) proposed two developmental pathways leading to lone- liness and social rejection. One is an exter- nalising pattern of behaviour that is characterised by aggression and disruptive behaviour, while the other is an internalising style characterised by apprehensiveness, tim- idity, social withdrawal, isolation, and sub- missiveness. In the Asher et al. (1990) survey, several studies demonstrated that the lone- liness feelings of the submissive group were significantly higher than those of the aggres- sive students, whereas in other studies no significant differences between groups were identified.

It should be remembered that not all LD students are characterised by social deficien- cies; indeed, many are socially skilled and escape the stresses of social rejection and conflict (Cartledge, 1987). Attempts to sub- type heterogenous samples of LD students (McKinney & Speece, 1986; Speece, McKin- ney, & Appelbaum, 1985) revealed that over one third of the children in these studies did not exhibit a maladaptive pattern of behav- iour. Of those who exhibited maladaptive patterns, differential profiles emerged (Hooper & Willis, 1989) which can be iden- tified in terms of internalising (ie., non- aggressive) and externalising (i.e., aggressive) behaviour difficulties. Subtyping of LD stu- dents along these measures may further our understanding of the students' social situa- tion and direct planning of social training.

Leisure activities represent another arena for social competence. Lonely children often feel apart from their peers in the various environments to which they belong. It is also not surprising that students with LD have reported difficulty in using their free time in an enjoyable and satisfying manner; however, the relationship between leisure activities and the sense of loneliness has not yet been inves- tigated empirically. A survey of leisure activ- ities among these students (Margalit, 1984) revealed their tendency to be involved in pas-

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sive, adultdependent activities which were often evaluated as more suitable for younger children. The entrance of computer technol- ogy into the homes of LD students may pro- vide a new opportunity for these children: computer activities may be viewed as an age- appropriate leisure activity that enables inter- active performance which is not passive and that may be related to a decrease in LD students' loneliness feelings (Margalit, 1990).

This study hypothesised that, after control- ling for the students' age and sex, the fol- lowing variables would predict the feeling of loneliness among students with LD, from most to least important: disruptive behav- iour, peer acceptance, computer interest, and social skills. The study also aimed to identify different subtypes of loneliness with regard to internalising and externalising behaviour difficulties and social skills.

METHOD

Setting and Subjects The sample consisted of 76 students (53 males and 23 females) from seven self-contained classes of LD students in regular schools in Israel, with ages ranging from 12.0 to 15.0 years (M = 13.24, SD = 1.03). The students had been placed in these special classes as a result of their continued academic failure, especially in reading and mathematic skills, and following a comprehensive psychological and educational assessment. Due to the Israeli law of confidentiality, individual IQ scores were unavailable; however, the school counsellor reported that the students' WISC- R scores ranged above 75.

Instruments The Aggressive Behaviour Scale (ABS) This scale (Margalit, 1985) provided an overall index of aggressive behaviour. It consisted of 10 items, each rated on a 0 to 3 severity index; scores ranged from 0 to 30. The items were selected from two lists of aggressive behaviour descriptions (Prinz, Conners, & Wilson, 1981; Stewart, DeBlois, Meardon,

& Cummings, 1980) and composed the most appropriate descriptions for Israeli students, as judged by teachers (internal consistency score: alpha = .96). Social Skills Rating Scales (SSRS) The Hebrew adaptation (Margalit, in press) for the Gresham and Elliott (1987a, 1987b, 1990) elementary school form of the student SSRS was used for the students' ratings of their social behaviour. The questionnaire consisted of 34 statements on a three-point frequency dimension (often true, sometimes true, never true). The alpha for the social skills score was .87. Loneliraess Questionnaire The Hebrew adap- tation of Williams and Asher's (1990) Lone- liness Questionnaire consisted of 16 primary items, 5 filler items, and 3 computer activity items on a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from Never (1) to Always (5). The 16 school-based primary items (e.g., 'It's easy for me to make new friends at school' or 'I feel left out of things at school? comprised the Loneliness measure. The fillers, covering areas of general interest and activity, were included to help the children feel more open and relaxed about indicating their feelings. The Computer Activity items (e.g., 'I play with computers a lot') measured the extent of the students' general computer interest. The alpha score was .75 for the Loneliness scale and .67 for the Computer Activity items. Peer Acceptance Scale This 5-point Likert scale (Andrasik & Matson, 1985) asked child- ren to rate each of their classmates as to what extent they like to work and be together with himlher, ranging from Not at all (1) to A lot (5). The score for each child was computed by averaging the ratings received from his/ her classroom peers.

Procedure Questionnaires were given individually to the students and teachers in their schools. Cluster analysis using the SPSS-X Statistical Pack- age was employed to group similar individ- uals over a predefined set of variables. Grouping was based on a similarity of mea-

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Table 1 Multiple Regression of Loneliness among Students with Learning Disabilities

Variables R Squared Multiple R

Sex .OO -05 1.15 0.20 Age .05 .21 0.36 1.72 Aggressive behaviour .10 .07 .25 0.07 1.66 Peer acceptance -.34* .16 .41 -3.82** 3.49** Computer interest -.29* .22 .47 -0.81, 4.02** Social skills -.42** .32 .56 -0.45** 5.36**

sures derived from the basic data of the study. Using this procedure, students were assigned to clusters according to the Euclidean dis- tance between the individual and the center of the cluster.

RESULTS A hierarchal multiple regression analysis was conducted on the loneliness measure, with the independent variables entering in the fol- lowing order'sex, age, ABS, peer acceptance, computer interest, and SSRS scores. The results (see able 1) indicated that the stu- dents' loneliness was significantly predicted by their peer acceptance, computer activities, and social skills (all three negatively related). Sex, age, and behaviour difficulties did not significantly predict the students' feelings of loneliness. The six variables had a multiple squared correlation of .32.

Table 2 Means, Standard Deviations, and F Scores of the Subtypes

The need to investigate the typology of lonely students with and without disruptive behaviour was addressed, especially since the disruptive behaviour was not found to add significantly to the prediction of loneliness feelings. Thus, students' self-reports of lone- liness and teachers' ratings of behaviour dif- ficulties (ABS) were used to group the LD students through a K-means clustering anal- ysis procedure on the basis of the students' similarity. Four clusters were identified. Means and standard deviations of the scores for each cluster are presented in Table 2. The four clusters may be conceptualised as follows: Cluster A: Lonely aggressive students (17 stu- dents - 15 male and 2 female, 22.4% of the sample). These students were rated by their teachers as demonstrating disruptive behav- iour and viewed themselves as very lonely.

Variables

Loneliness

Aggressive behaviour Social skills Peer acceptance Computer interest

Clusters C

N=26 D F

N=2a (2,711 Contrasts

69.00 68.38** B#C,A 2.83 @A 4.50 65.59** A#B,C 4.95

39.50 1 1.64** A,B# C 17.68 1.20 1.62 0.28

11.50 2.05 0.71

.Cluster D was not included in the analysis. **p

Most members of this group were male students. Cluster B: Lonely non-aggressive students (3 1 students - 20 male and 11 female, 40.8% of the sample). These students viewed them- selves as very lonely, and their teachers rated them as demonstrating low levels of disrup- tive behaviour in their classes. About two thirds of the members of this group were male students. Cluster C: Non-aggressive and non-lonely students: (26 students - 17 male and 9 female, 34.2% of the sample). These students did not view themselves as lonely, nor did their teachers rate them as demonstrating disruptive behaviour. About two thirds of the group members were male students. Cluster D: Extremely lonely students (2 stu- dents - 1 male and 1 female, 2.6% of the sample). This unique small cluster focused interest on students who emphasised their lonely feelings. They were not rated as dis- ruptive in the classroom.

To determine whether the clustering tech- nique produced clusters that differed signif- icantly on their criteria variables, in line with Blashfield's (1980) suggestions, a MANOVA was performed for the Clusters A, B, and C. Cluster D was not included in the analysis because only two students comprised this group. The overall MANOVA was signifi- cant, F(4,140) = 68.89, pc.001, as was each of the univariate analyses. Means, standard deviations, and F scores are presented in Table 2. Another MANOVA was performed on three measures that may be treated as external validation of the clustering group: social skills, peer acceptance, and computer activities. The overall MANOVA was signif- icant, F(6,138) = 4.37, p

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the optimal modes for its usage. Four subtypes were identified within the

heterogenous sample. A small group of extremely lonely students was found, and about a third of the sample comprised a sub- group that seemed socially competent, with better social skills and lower levels of lone- liness than the other three groups. The remaining two groups were differentiated along their externalising/internalising diffi- culties. The aggressive lonely students did not differ significantly from the non-aggressive lonely students regarding their social skill level, yet the latter group felt much more lonely.

It remains unclear why aggressive children report less extreme feelings of loneliness. This finding may be consistent with their tendency ----------

to overestimate their own competence and to show 'inflated and inaccurate self- perceptions (Asher et al., 1990). These overly positive self-perceptions may reflect a ten- dency to discount attachments and to deny feelings of sadness. Another possible expla- nation is that the aggressive children have more friends (even aggressive ones) and are less likely to be left out of social interactions. Only further research can clarify the phe- nomenological significance of the sense of loneliness.

The subtyping of loneliness comprises another aspect in need of future investigation. The results suggested that loneliness is a sub- jective experience, related to a variety of inner processes and constructs. Research is neces- sary to identify unique individual patterns and to develop interventions that will meet these specific needs. Further study of the individual and interpersonal aspects of social competence represents an opportunity to facilitate the social adjustment of students with learning d i s a b U k s - T l c d ~ B -

--

jective perceptions in the current study stemmed from the perspective that in order for strategies or skill learned in intervention programs to be maintained and transferred, the student must make changes in his/her inner processes, thereby necessitating com- prehensive examination of these processes

prior to the design of such programs. Ample evidence indicates that social skills

can be taught (Cartledge, 1987). Social skill instruction typically uses a skill-training mode which involves presenting the skill, identifying specific responses, modelling behaviour, and providing guided practices, feedback, and opportunities for practice of the behaviour in other settings. ~ollowi'ng skill acquisition, additional procedures are necessary if the behaviour is to be maintained and generalised to other settings.

Two points of caution should be the focus of attention. This study attempted to clarify the affective experience of social interactions among students with LD. The results dem- onstrated the uniqueness of the identified clustets, hutit should be xaem8g-t-eckk --

only a detailed study may further identify critical variables in the experience of lone- liness and social acceptance. In addition, the present study investigated the social world of students in special class settings, an envir- onment that may be viewed as protective, but also ,as not providing developmental models of normative social development. More studies are needed to compare both these students' experience within the main- streamed system, where they are expected to interact more with nondisabled peers, and also the acceptance of students with learning disabilities by those non-handicapped peers.

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