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Publication

Lonely Adolescents and Their Best Friend: An Examination of Loneliness and Friendship Quality in Best Friendship Dyads

Journal Contribution - Journal Article

© 2018, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature. Friendship experiences have been shown to be important predictors of adolescents’ loneliness. The current study examined selection and socialization effects of loneliness within reciprocal best friendships, while controlling for friendship quality. Analyses were conducted on a sample of 884 adolescents (42.08% boys), making up 442 dyads, who were on average 13.51 years old (SD = 1.37). Adolescents completed the peer-related loneliness subscale of the Loneliness and Aloneness Scale for Children and Adolescents as well as the Friendship Qualities Scale. A longitudinal actor-partner interdependence model, which accounts for the interdependencies in the data of best friends, suggested the presence of a selection effect for loneliness but no socialization effect. This finding within best friendships contrasts with studies on friendship networks where both selection and socialization were established.
Journal: Journal of Child and Family Studies
ISSN: 1062-1024
Issue: 11
Volume: 27
Pages: 3598 - 3605
Publication year:2018
BOF-keylabel:yes
IOF-keylabel:yes
BOF-publication weight:1
CSS-citation score:1
Authors from:Higher Education
Accessibility:Open