Abstract

The present study aims to see the role of wisdom on loneliness in single women. The research was carried out through a quantitative approach with regression statistics. A total of 100 single female undergraduate students and workers aged 18-25 years participated in this study. Data was collected through a questionnaire consisting of (1) Brief Wisdom Screening Scale by Glück at al (2013), to measure wisdom, and (2) SELSA-S (Social and Emotional Loneliness Scale for Adult) developed by Ditomasso et al (2004) to measure feelings of loneliness. The reliability value for the Brief Wisdom Screening Scale (BWSS) was 0.723, while the reliability value for Social Emotional Loneliness Scale for Adult (SELSA-S) was 0.754. The result showed there was 10.7% effects of wisdom on loneliness in single women (= 0.327 with R2 = -0.107 and p <0.001). It is concluded that there is a significant role of wisdom on feelings of loneliness. The study also proposes that individuals may lower the level of loneliness by increasing their wisdom.

Introduction

Early adulthood is a periode of adjustment to work (pursuing career) and falling in love (developing intimacy), Santrock (2004) . These two things are usually felt by each individual, sometimes leaving little time for other things. At this periode of time each individual will think about his personal progress, both in terms of education and career, as well as from personal development such as fostering a family. Some individuals would put family development as first priority, while some others not. Arnett (in Santrock, 2012) called the transition from adolescence to early adulthood as emerging adult, which occurs between the ages of 18 and 25 years. At this time, many individuals explore more in the career path they want to choose, think personally about what they want. This includes the thought of either being single, or getting married.

Sanusi sees that life is full of choices, and every decision to choose one of the many choices will bring their own consequences. This means that every action taken will result in consequences for his own choice1. When an individual chooses to focus on his career or job while continuing his study / education the decision will bring to a chosen consequence. Some choices based on these thoughts can have different impacts, both for individuals themselves and for their environment, especially parents/family and friends. There are two main sources of intimacy in early adulthood, namely friends and partners. Young adult individuals whose in their 30s who do not have a partner or live alone are considered to have been in a critical age. This situation could be difficult for single individuals. A person who is still single could develop a sense of disappointment within, because the feeling of not being accepted and being the subject of discussion in the community.

Baltes states that wisdom includes how a person may identify problems in everyday life, as well as about how individuals are expected to be able to solve problems by behaving wisely in the face of uncertain life situations. If an individual can be wise in dealing with perceived problems, then the individual can think positively and be able to overcome them with common sense2. Individuals with a wise attitude can reduce perceived loneliness. One's wisdom can be seen from how he/she makes decisions in addressing and interpreting life by having motivation in life. Based on the results of research from Nirbayaningtyas & Aniza which states that the higher the level of individuals find meaning in life, the lower the sense of loneliness, and conversely the lower the individual find meaning in life, the higher the loneliness. This shows that there is an effect that make individual feel lonely if they do not have the meaning in life. Therefore, as a human being who has entered early adulthood, a person should be able to respond more wisely to thoughts and behaviors that reflect adult attitudes.

Explained above, the researcher chooses single women who have entered early adulthood as respondents, because at this time where individuals explore more in the career path they want to choose, there are those who choose to continue with higher education, and there are those who think about their personal/family development later. This is in the form of thinking whether being single, or getting married. So the focus of this research is to examine whether there is a role of wisdom possessed by a person, especially from single women on the sense of loneliness.

Methodology

Research conducted using a quantitative approach with regression statistical calculations. Respondents in this study were single women, undergraduate students and workers aged 18 to 25 years with total of 100 respondents.

Based on the above table, there were 100 respondents in this study. There were also 74 undergraduate student respondents and 26 respondents who worked. It could be concluded that in general the respondents in this study are undergraduate students.

Based on the above table it can be seen that respondents at the age of 18 to 19 years amounted to 8 people, at the age of 20 to 21 years amounted to 46 people, at the age of 22 to 23 amounted to 41 people, and at the age of 24 to 25 totaled 5 people. At the age of 18 to 23 years, there were 74 respondents, while at the age of 21 to 25 women worked with 26 respondents. It could be concluded that most of the respondents in this study were between 20 and 23 years old who were undergraduate students.

The research instrument used to collect data using the scale developed by Gluck in his research is the Brief Wisdom Screening Scale which was adapted by Judith Glück3 and the SELSA-S (Social and Emotional Loneliness Scale for Adults) scale developed by DiTommaso et al4 with 37 items, and adapted to Parsia by Jowker and Salim with 15 items Salimi5 . Likert Scale valuation technique is based on two groups, namely favorable and unfavorable.

Data analysis techniques in this study use quantitative calculations by testing the validity and reliability. Reliability value at the Brief Wisdom Screening Scale is 0.723 which consists of 21 items and after validity testing there are 10 valid items. While the reliability value on the Social Emotional Loneliness Scale Adult (SELSA-S) is 0.754 which consists of 15 items, and after validity testing there are 10 valid items. After testing the reliability of the two measuring instruments then a regression test was performed on the scores of the two variables with SPSS 22. Data analysis was used to determine the role of wisdom on loneliness in single women.

Result

Respondents in this study were undergraduate single women and working single women with ages 18-25 years. In this study the data obtained were analyzed using regression analysis techniques.

Based on table 3 after the regression test it can be seen the value of R Square is obtained at 0.107 or it can be said that wisdom contributes to loneliness (10.7%). Anova results produce an F value of 11,737 with p value <0.01 that there is a significant effect of wisdom on loneliness in single women. Furthermore, based on the data above, the Beta value of wisdom were -0.327 shows that with p value <0.01, which means there is a negative and significant correlation between wisdom and loneliness in single women.

Conclusion

Based on the results of the study it is concluded that there is a significant influence of wisdom on sense of loneliness in individuals. From these results it is also seen that the higher the level of wisdom, the lower the sense of loneliness. This result is in line with the theory put forward by Diener & Larsen in Hutapea6 that psychological well-being can be interpreted as happiness, in the sense that it is free from distress reflected by balance of positive and negative effects. In addition, it can also be interpreted as life satisfaction. Psychological well-being includes discovering the meaning of oneself with personality, social support, and discovering what an evaluation of life experiences really is. Besides having psychological well-being, women who are single and not lonely also have good wisdom in themselves.

According to Sanusi Wisdom is the ability to provide a number of choices and then make the right decision, a good decision to be chosen. Wisdom is intelligence that is formed from experiences that have occurred. Because wisdom is not an innate talent, wisdom only emerges from life, from mistakes that have occurred to ourselves and others and learn from these mistakes.7 8 9 10 11 12

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