Loneliness in Young Children and Their Parents

Although many researchers have studied loneliness, they have done so as if people are free from social context. An alternative perspective is that people exist within ongoing social groups. In the current study, we considered the relationship among family members in level of loneliness and the predictors of loneliness for each family member. Subjects were 52 first-grade children and their parents (47 mothers, 32 fathers). The loneliness of children was significantly correlated with the level of loneliness of their mothers, but not their fathers. For all three types of family members, loneliness was associated with using fewer relationship enhancing strategies. For children and mothers, loneliness was also associated with having more negative attitudes toward others. Finally, for mothers with young children, loneliness was associated with having smaller social networks.