Abstract
The present study was designed to assess the relationship between adolescent loneliness and the following factors commonly associated with adult loneliness: attributional style, self-esteem, social anxiety, and social skills. Subjects were 186 ninth-grade students (107 males and 79 females) who were asked to complete seven different paper-and-pencil measures. Data were analyzed by calculating separate stepwise multiple regression equations for the total sample, males and females. Three significant predictors were found for the total sample: student social skills rating scale, self-esteem, and the perception of stability in interpersonal situations (attributional style). A different pattern of predictors emerged for males and females. Loneliness could be predicted for males from three variables: low self-esteem, the perception of uncontrollability in noninterpersonal situations, and self-perceptions of poor social skills. The best multiple predictors of loneliness for the females were self-perceptions of poor social skills, high social anxiety, and stable attributions for interpersonal situations.
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Received Ph.D from West Virginia University. Current interests include social competence and social skills of adolescents and the adjustment of sexually abused children and adolescents.
Received Ph.D from University of Illinois. Currently studying the friendships and peer relations of children and adolescents.
Received Ph.D from Johns Hopkins University. Currently studying loneliness and close relationships.
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Inderbitzen-Pisaruk, H., Clark, M.L. & Solano, C.H. Correlates of loneliness in midadolescence. J Youth Adolescence 21, 151–167 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01537334
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01537334