Adolescent loners are youth who have failed to build close friendships and who are socially isolated in larger peer networks. Although researchers have begun to examine how individuals become loners and how they experience being loners, considerably little is known about adolescent loners, and the research that does exist can be quite conflicting. The outcomes for socially isolated adolescents or those with weak friendship ties are relatively unknown. This is, at some level, quite odd given that researchers actually now know so much about the place of peers in adolescent development, such as how peers can influence adolescents’ behaviors and emotional development. Researchers simply do not know much about the apparent absence of interactions with peer groups. Still, research does reveal important themes.
Research on adolescence reveals that typical adolescent development includes a focus on, and increased attachment to, peers. As children enter adolescence, their time with parents...
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Levesque, R.J.R. (2011). Loners. In: Levesque, R.J.R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Adolescence. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1695-2_350
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