Emotional autonomy and loneliness in adolescent substance abusers.

Abstract

Emotional autonomy is a complex construct that concerns separation and detachment from parents. The literature about the relationship between these dimensions and psychological adjustment is controversial. In particular, emotional autonomy is associated with substance use and in general with maladjustment. The present study examined differences between typical adolescents (N=1,223) and substances abusers (N=24) with regards separation, detachment, loneliness towards parents and peers and attitude towards aloneness. Abusers had higher detachment and higher loneliness towards peer scores, while typical adolescents had higher separation and higher affinity for aloneness scores. Furthermore, as shown by ROC analysis, the most distinctive dimensions were separation and loneliness towards peers. The results supported the hypothesis that the dimension of emotional autonomy called “Separation” by Beyers et al. (2003) was associated with better psychological adjustment. On the other hand, the dimension of emotional autonomy called “Detachment” was less clear and seems to be more problematic with respect to social relationships rather than in a familiar context