FEELING OF LONELINESS AND ITS MEASUREMENT Being a human-specific psychological condition, loneliness is considered to date back to existence of human. Recently, science of psychology, psychologists, and psychological consultants have started to be further interested in loneliness increasingly. Today’s changing culture, social life styles, family structure, advancing technology, extended life expectancy, increasing number of individuals living alone, urbanization, alienation brought by them, and isolation cause modern human, either female or male to experience feeling of loneliness more frequently and intensively. The aim of this literature study is to thoroughly investigate feeling of loneliness, which is supposed to be experienced gradually more intensively in recent years, as well as its measurement. In the study, loneliness was explained by being extensively researched and investigated and surveying scales used in the relevant literature. The scales introduced in the study are thought to be beneficial for researchers, who will study on loneliness, to select an assessment instrument.

Key Words: Loneliness, feeling of loneliness, measurement of loneliness, assessment instrument