Adolescent Loneliness and Social Skills:Agreement and Discrepancies Between Self-, Meta-, and Peer-Evaluations

Contains fulltext : 160961.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)Lonely adolescents report that they have poor social skills, but it is unknown whether this is due to an accurate perception of a social skills deficit, or a biased negative perception. This is an important distinction, as actual social skills deficits require different treatments than biased negative perceptions. In this study, we compared self-reported social skills evaluations with peer-reported social skills and meta-evaluations of social skills (i.e., adolescents' perceptions of how they believe their classmates evaluate them). Based on the social skills view, we expected negative relations between loneliness and these three forms of social skills evaluations. Based on the bias view, we expected lonely adolescents to have more negative self- and meta-evaluations compared to peer-evaluations of social skills. Participants were 1342 adolescents (48.64 % male, M age = 13.95, SD = .54). All classmates rated each other in a round-robin design to obtain peer-evaluations. Self- and meta-evaluations were obtained using self-reports. Data were analyzed using polynomial regression analyses and response surface modeling. The results indicated that, when self-, peer- and meta-evaluations were similar, a greater sense of loneliness was related to poorer social skills. Loneliness was also related to larger discrepancies between self- and peer-evaluations of loneliness, but not related to the direction of these discrepancies. Thus, for some lonely adolescents, loneliness may be related to an actual social skills deficit, whereas for others a biased negative perception of one's own social skills or a mismatch with the environment may be related to their loneliness. This implies that different mechanisms may underlie loneliness, which has implications for interventions.11 p

Trajectories of Early Adolescent Loneliness: Implications for Physical Health and Sleep

The current study examines the relationship between prolonged loneliness, physical health, and sleep among young adolescents (10–13 years; N = 1214; 53% girls). Loneliness was measured at 10, 12 and 13 years of age along with parent-reported health and sleep outcomes. Using growth mixture modelling, 6 distinct trajectories were identified: ‘low increasing to high loneliness’ (n = 23, 2%), ‘high reducing loneliness’ (n = 28, 3%), ‘medium stable loneliness’ (n = 60, 5%), ‘medium reducing loneliness’ (n = 185, 15%), ‘low increasing to medium loneliness’ (n = 165, 14%), and ‘low stable loneliness’ (n = 743, 61%). Further analyses found non-significant differences between the loneliness trajectories and parent-report health and sleep outcomes including visits to health professionals, perceived general health, and sleep quality. The current study offers an important contribution to the literature on loneliness and health. Results show that the relationship may not be evident in early adolescence when parent reports of children’s health are used. The current study highlights the importance of informant choice when reporting health. The implications of the findings for future empirical work are discussed

Loneliness, Emotional Autonomy and Motivation for Solitary Behavior During Adolescence

Loneliness is a crucial part of people’s experience in the transition to adulthood. Several developmental tasks, such as the separation/individuation process and exploration in the interpersonal domains connected with identity acquisition, lead adolescents to seek solitary experiences. Adolescents are involved in the redefinition of their relationships with parents and peers, moving away from their dependence on the family. The aim of the present study is to assess the effects of two aspects of autonomy: emotional autonomy (separation and detachment) and autonomous motivation for solitary behavior, on parent- and peer-related loneliness during adolescence. The participants were 977 adolescents (447 males and 530 females), aged between 14 and 20 years (M = 16.31; SD = 1.57), recruited from Italian high schools. The Italian versions of the Loneliness and Aloneness Scale for Children and Adolescents, of the Emotional Autonomy Scale and of the Frequency of and Autonomy for Solitary and Interpersonal Behavior scale were administered to each participant. Structural equation models and path analysis indicate the effects of separation–individuation process dimensions both on parent- and peer-related loneliness. Specific differences emerge between the two dimensions of loneliness. Peer-related loneliness is more influenced by autonomous motivation than is parent-related loneliness, and controlled motivation mediates its relationship with separation. The relationships among the constructs are discussed in the light of the separation–individuation process and with regard to the prevention of maladaptive outcomes