The Conversational Styles of Lonely Males with Strangers and Roommates

Abstract

Several studies have indicated that lonely persons converse in an inhibited self-focused manner in initial encounters with opposite-sex strangers. The present study hypothesized that lonely persons may also display nonnormative conversational patterns in same-sex dyads and when speaking to familiar others. To test this hypothesis, lonely and nonlonely college males engaged in a conversation with a same-sex stranger and with a roommate. These conversations were coded for eight objective conversational modes and three interpersonal orientations, and subjects reported on their satisfaction with the conversation. Lonely males were significantly more inhibited in social interactions, speaking less than nonlonely males both with strangers and with roommates. Only minimal support was found for lonely persons having a self-focused conversational style with strangers. The conversational style of lonely persons with roommates is less intimate than that of nonlonely persons; lonely persons used simple attentiveness conversational modes more than nonlonely persons, and used familiarity modes less than nonlonely persons. No differences in self-reported satisfaction with the conversations were found.

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