LONELINESS IN EAST-GERMANY AND WEST-GERMANY

Loneliness, in the context of the individualization debate, is a psychosocial problem that is increasingly discussed in public and investigated empirically. In comparisons between the system of the former GDR (communistic) and that in the ''old'' FRG (democratic), differences in loneliness were always perceived in such a way that a warm, solidaristic, protective society stood in contrast to a cold, egoistical, competitive, consumer and achievement oriented society. With a representative sample from both Germanies (East and West) (N = 592), this psychometric study compares the levels of loneliness in East and West German sociodemographic groups. It suggests that in July 1991 West Germans were significantly lonelier than East Germans and that the loneliness experienced by the East Germans was more homogeneous. Further, this study examines the current state of the prevailing loneliness in both, East and West Germany and summarizes the central theoretical and methodological aspects of research on loneliness.