Brief Report
Different sources of loneliness are associated with different forms of psychopathology in adolescence

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Abstract

The present study investigated associations between loneliness in different social relationships and indicators of psychopathology in adolescence. A nationally representative sample of 1009 high school students completed measures of three types of loneliness and six indicators of psychopathology. Results indicated that peer-related and family-related loneliness were associated with depression, anxiety, and suicide ideation, whereas peer-related and romantic loneliness were associated with social phobia. In contrast, only family-related loneliness was associated with deliberate self-harm and eating disorders. It is important, therefore, to distinguish between experiences of loneliness in different social relationships, in particular the peer versus the family setting, when investigating loneliness and psychopathology in adolescence.

Introduction

Theoretical approaches to loneliness have assigned special importance to adolescence, which is regarded as a period of life when loneliness is particularly prevalent (Heinrich & Gullone, 2006). Loneliness is a negative emotion that comes about through a discrepancy between desired and achieved levels of social contact (Perlman & Peplau, 1981) and has been associated with psychopathology (Heinrich & Gullone, 2006). However, studies that investigate the clinical significance of loneliness as experienced in different social relationships are rare. This paper presents the first known study into the associations between various forms of loneliness (i.e., peer-related, family-related, and romantic) and a broad range of indicators of psychopathology using data from a representative sample of high school students.

Several authors have stated that different relationships are potential sources of loneliness. Weiss (1974), for instance, argued that different types of social relationships offer different social provisions or meet different interpersonal needs. Peers or friends offer provisions associated with a sense of social integration, relationships with family members offer a sense of guidance, and relationships with romantic partners offer a sense of reliable attachment (DiTommaso & Spinner, 1997). The absence of a required relational provision is signalled by a form of distress that is experienced as loneliness and, in turn, may be associated with various forms of psychopathology.

Weiss (1974) further argued that social needs have a different value in different phases of life. As a result, the risk of being lonely with regard to different relationships may increase or decrease over time. From this perspective, the link between loneliness and psychopathology may also vary among different age groups. During adolescence, relationships with peers achieve special prominence in social life, but relationships with parents, as key figures in the family, continue to be important as well. Hence, family-related loneliness is as likely to be associated with indicators of psychopathology in adolescence as is peer-related loneliness. Later on, romantic partners may replace peers and parents as primary attachment figures (Larson, 1999) and therefore romantic loneliness is more likely to be associated with psychopathology in college students.

These notions can be put to an empirical test. Several well-established measures are available to measure loneliness in different relationships (e.g., DiTommaso, Brannen, & Best, 2004) that may be used with high school students or undergraduates. Moreover, factor analytic studies on these age groups that have used multiple loneliness measures have clearly distinguished between two factors that tap peer-related and family-related loneliness, respectively (e.g., Goossens et al., 2009). Yet, only two studies have examined the links between loneliness as experienced in different relationships, on the one hand, and psychopathology, on the other hand, during adolescence or the college years.

The first study examined loneliness in three different relationships – peer-related loneliness (labelled ‘social loneliness’), family-related loneliness, and romantic loneliness – in undergraduates using a well-established loneliness measure (the Social and Emotional Loneliness Scale for Adults or SELSA; DiTommaso et al., 2004). Peer-related loneliness, rather than family-related and romantic loneliness, was a specific correlate of depression, anxiety, and general distress (DiTommaso & Spinner, 1997). The second study examined loneliness in two different relationships – with peers and with family members – in students from Grades 5 through 9, by means of the Experience Sampling Method. Using this ecologically valid type of instrumentation, both peer-related and family-related loneliness were significant correlates of depression (Larson, 1999).

The findings of these studies lent support to the notion that different sources of loneliness are differentially associated with young people’s psychopathology. They also suggest that the pattern of associations obtained differs across periods of development (i.e., late adolescence and early adolescence). However, both studies showed a number of limitations. First, convenience samples of undergraduate students and students from Grades 5 through 9 were used, which limits the generalizability of the results obtained. Second, researchers have relied on a small set of measures of psychopathology. Using a larger set could provide additional insights into the links between loneliness as experienced in different relationships and adolescent psychopathology.

The present study aimed to expand on the existing literature and tried to remedy some of the shortcomings of earlier research. First, associations between relation-specific loneliness and psychopathology were examined using data from a representative sample of high school students. Second, multiple indicators of psychopathology were used. Four of these indicators (i.e., depression, anxiety, social phobia, and suicide ideation) have been shown to be associated with adolescent loneliness in several earlier studies (Heinrich & Gullone, 2006). Two additional indicators (i.e., deliberate self-harm and eating disorders) have been associated with interpersonal problems in the family domain, but have rarely been investigated in relation to loneliness. Suicide and suicide ideation are frequently associated with problematic relationships with both peers and family members (Joiner, Brown, & Wingate, 2005). Poor family relationships predict deliberate self-harm in adolescents (Hawton & Harriss, 2008) and a considerable body of research has focused on family problems prior to the onset of eating disorders (e.g., Fairburn et al., 1998).

Based on the findings reported in the literature, and because social phobia is a subtype of anxiety, it was hypothesized that both peer-related and family-related loneliness would be associated with four indicators of psychopathology (i.e., depression, anxiety, social phobia, and suicide ideation) in the current study on high school students. Family-related loneliness was hypothesized to be associated with the remaining indicators (i.e., deliberate self-harm and eating disorders). Because of the age of the participants, romantic loneliness was not expected to be associated with any of the indicators of psychopathology. During high school, romantic relationships tend to be short-lived and self-centered, and therefore, romantic loneliness has more limited repercussions. During the college years and early adulthood, by contrast, young people tend to develop truly mature romantic relationships and consider the possibility of long-term commitment to their romantic partner (Brown, 1999) and, as a consequence, romantic loneliness may be expected to show more pronounced associations with psychopathology.

Section snippets

Participants and procedure

Data were used from the High School Loneliness Study, a Danish national study. The sample was stratified, using the number of students in counties to define different geographical areas of approximately equal size. Moreover, the number of liberal versus vocational oriented schools was stratified. The class teacher monitored the data collection according to standardized instructions. An accompanying letter informed the students about procedures securing confidentiality and that participation was

Results

Intercorrelations among the measures used and descriptive statistics (i.e., mean, SD, and range) are presented in Table 1. In accordance with previous research (e.g., DiTommaso et al., 2004), the three loneliness measures were weakly to moderately intercorrelated. These findings suggest that peer-related, family-related, and romantic loneliness are relatively independent constructs. Results of the HRAs, expressed as standardized regression coefficients, can be seen in Table 2. As regards

Discussion

The findings from the present study demonstrate that researchers are well-advised to distinguish between various sources of loneliness when examining the association between loneliness and psychopathology in adolescence. As hypothesized, both family-related loneliness and peer-related loneliness were associated with three indicators of psychopathology (i.e., depression, anxiety, and suicide ideation). Again in line with hypotheses, family-related loneliness was associated with two additional

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