Studenters berättelser om ensamhet

Author: Ebba Eiroff Title: Students narratives of loneliness Supervisor: Kristina Göransson Assessor: Mats Hilte The aim for this qualitative study was to examine university students experiences of loneliness based on Erving Goffman’s dramaturgy theory, together with the conceptions of normality, shame and guilt. How students describe feelings of loneliness and how they relate their experiences to social situations and what strategies they use in order to cope with their experiences, served as guidelines to help answering the purpose of the study. By conducting six semi structured interviews with university students ages from 20-26, I collected, transcribed and analyzed my research data by using qualitative content analysis focusing on the students vocabulary, with influences of Gubrium & Holsteins method, analytical bracketing. The study found that loneliness was shown as a topic rarely spoken of amongst the participating students, due to discomfort and concern of how it would be recieved. It also showed how students tend to control their self-image of how they want to be perceived by others as a not lonely person. Moreover, the study also found that students experiencing loneliness were prone to feelings of guilt, and in some cases shame, regarding their loneliness. Other findings showed how students actively chose to be lonely when facing other more worrying situations which challenges the idea of loneliness by choice as a more positive phenomenon. Keywords: loneliness and students, Goffman, normality, guilt, sham