Study On Rural Left-behind Women’s Loneliness And Social Support

The present study attempts to unfold the current situation of left-behind women’sloneliness and the relationship between social support and the loneliness, exploringthe factors that affecting their loneliness and further offering pertinent solutions to theproblem.The UCLA Loneliness Scale and Social Support Rating Scale(SSRS) areemployed as questionnaires administrated to738rural left-behind women to collectdata, which are analyzed with analysis of variance and correlation analysis andregression analysis. Face-to-face interviews based on self-designed interview outlineare also conducted between the researcher and selected left-behind women subjects.The results of the study can be summarized in the following points:(1)The lonelinesslevel of rural left-behind women at present is relatively high while the social supportis relatively low, which remains to be further improved;(2)There are significantdifferences between loneliness and years of being away form home, contact frequency,interval of staying at home, economic conditions, family conflict, and physicalconditions;(3)There are significant differences between social support and years ofbeing away form home, contact frequency, interval of staying at home, economicconditions, family conflict, and physical conditions;(4)The loneliness and socialsupport have negative correlation;(5)Social support predicts16.8%variance in ruralleft-behind women’s loneliness. Subjective support and the use degree of supportaccount for17.3%variance in the loneliness.Based on the current situation of rural left-behind women and the data analysis,the present study proposes the solutions as follows:(1)Boost rural economy andincrease the household income;(2)establish virtuous communication betweenhusbands and wives in rural areas;(3)Enhance the interpersonal communicationsamong rural left-behind women, enrich their life and rural culture to upgrade theirpersonal qualities;(4)improve the cultural and entertaining facilities to enrich ruralleft-behind women’s spiritual and cultural life;(5)Improve the rural left-behindwomen’ssocial support system.