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Loneliness among school‐aged children and their parents
Author(s) -
JUNTTILA NIINA,
VAURAS MARJA
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.743
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1467-9450
pISSN - 0036-5564
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9450.2009.00715.x
Subject(s) - loneliness , psychology , developmental psychology , structural equation modeling , clinical psychology , social psychology , mathematics , statistics
The aim of this study was to examine the existence of the intergenerational transmission of loneliness between parents and children, including an examination of its stability and of gender differences. The study consisted of an evaluation of loneliness in mothers ( n = 834), fathers ( n = 661) and their 10‐year‐old children ( n = 981). Parent's self‐reported loneliness was measured once, and their children's social and emotional loneliness were assessed at three time‐points. The stability analysis indicated average stability in children's loneliness, especially their social loneliness. Boys were found to experience more emotional loneliness than girls. Structural equation modeling indicated no direct relationship between mothers’/fathers’ loneliness and their children's loneliness. However, mothers’ and fathers’ loneliness reduced their daughters’ peer‐evaluated cooperating skills, which consequently predicted higher levels of both social and emotional loneliness.