The Comparison of the Young Never Marrieds Living in Turkey and United States in terms of Relationships Among Loneliness, Anger, and Life Satisfaction

Social interaction is a basic necessity considering many theories. According to Diener, an essential part of life satisfaction comes from human relations. For this reason, the inability to control the loneliness, that is, the inability to meet the need for a relationship, may induce a feeling of frustration and anger in the person. In particular, inability to achieve desired satisfaction in close relationships may lead to feelings of loneliness and anger. Anger can also be harmful to close relationships. Loneliness, an inevitable part of a single lifestyle, may be the sign of the presence of the anger in this life. For late adolescence and young adulthood, romantic relationships are a critical developmental task. Culture and religion provide guidance on the level and manner, in which this need is developmental and fundamental. Turkey is also found in some collectivist cultures where romantic relationships are causes social pressure on individuals. In this study, loneliness, life satisfaction, and anger were investigated among late adolescents and young adults being never-married living in United States and Turkey. Individuals forming sample from both countries were divided into categories based on "culture (individualistic and collectivist)", "romantic relationship (to have or not)" and "religious orientation (Islam, Christian and non-belief)". Relationships in these categories between loneliness, anger and life satisfaction were examined by PATH analysis in the SPSS 23 AMOS software. The results of the analysis imply that the relationship between anger and loneliness may change according to the culture. In both cultures, loneliness was found to affect life satisfaction negatively. All findings were interpreted according to the relevant literature and suggestions were presented.

Keywords: Loneliness, anger, life satisfaction, romantic relationship, culture, religion, late adolescence, young adulthood, never married, Turkey, and United States