FEELINGS OF SUBJECTIVE EMOTIONAL LONELINESS: AN EXPLORATION OF ATTACHMENT
- 1 January 2006
- journal article
- Published by Scientific Journal Publishers Ltd in Social Behavior and Personality: an international journal
- Vol. 34 (7), 797-812
- https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.2006.34.7.797
Abstract
This study examines the relationships between parental attachment, peer attachment, and subjective feelings of emotional loneliness. Three alternative models were tested in a group of 440 graduating psychology students at Ghent University in Belgium. The first hypothesis explored the linear causal relationship between parental attachment, peer attachment, and feelings of emotional loneliness. The second hypothesis tested the direct relationship between parental attachment and feelings of emotional loneliness, and the third hypothesis examined the reciprocity between feelings of emotional loneliness and peer attachment. Using Structural Equation Modeling, results showed that peer attachment mediates strongly between parental attachment and feelings of emotional loneliness. The direct contribution of parental attachment to feelings of emotional loneliness was rather weak. Finally, feelings of emotional loneliness did not contribute significantly to the explanation of peer-attachment style.Keywords
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