The role of empathic tendency and perceived social support in predicting loneliness levels of college students

This study aimed at investigating the role of empathic tendency and perceived social support in predicting loneliness levels of college students. The sample consisted of 278 students from four different grade levels of different departments at Ege University. Turkish version of University of California Loneliness Scale (UCLA-R, Demir, 1989), The Empathic Tendency Scale (ETS, Dokmen, 1988), and Turkish form of Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS, Eker & Arkar, 1995) were used for data collection. For the purpose of investigating the role of empathic tendency and perceived social support in predicting loneliness levels of college students, a stepwise multiple regression analysis was conducted. ETS scores and MSPSS scores appeared as significant predictors for the UCLA-R scores for college students. (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd.