Hassall, Amber (2021) Lonely Self-Sabotaging Single: What is Holding them Back. Honours thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
Research has shown that loneliness is comparable to smoking and drinking as a riskfactor of death . A protective factor against loneliness is an intimate relationship making it important to understand why singles might sabotage romantic relationships. Taken together, the Attachment and Goal Orientation Theory underpin the Relationship Sabotage Scale. The theory suggests individuals engage in defensive strategies, guided by self-validation goals, when they feel their attachment figure is unresponsive. Accordingly, sabotaging domains of the Relationship Sabotage Scale, (1) Defensiveness, (2) Trust Difficulties, and (3) Lack of Relationship Skills were used to provide framework for this study. Overall, this qualitative study investigated the typology of self-identified self-sabotaging singles who were no longer pursuing a relationship. The study used reflective thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews conducted over Zoom, a videotelephony software platform. Five themes were generated (1) Negative Self-Concept, (2) Trust Difficulty, (3) Lack of Social Skill, (4) Mental Health, and (5) Loneliness. The current research supports the established literature that people sabotage romantic relationship to protect themselves. How individuals pursue a relationship in modern society and the impacts of sabotaging on mental health are then discussed. An important implication of this study is that future research should be conducted to develop preventive strategies for singles and educate them to establish and maintain a romantic relationship to prevent loneliness and increase their quality of life.
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| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Honours) |
|---|---|
| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Current UniSQ staff and students can request access to this thesis. Please email research.repository@unisq.edu.au with a subject line of SEAR thesis request and provide: Name of the thesis requested and Your name and UniSQ email address |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Historic - Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - School of Psychology and Counselling (1 Jan 2015 - 31 Dec 2021) |
| Supervisors: | Raquel Peel |
| Qualification: | Bachelor of Science (Honours) |
| Date Deposited: | 27 Jul 2025 23:58 |
| Last Modified: | 27 Jul 2025 23:58 |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | relationship sabotage ; negative self-concept ; trust ; social skills ; loneliness ; attachment ; goal orientation theory |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1799 Other Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 179999 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified |
| Fields of Research (2020): | 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5299 Other psychology > 529999 Other psychology not elsewhere classified |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/52399 |
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