Adolescent self-disclosure and loneliness: Private self-consciousness and parental influences.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 49(1) of Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (see record 2008-10979-001). In this article, there was an error in Figure 2 and an error in its caption. The figure and caption are corrected in the erratum.] Structural equation techniques were used to test a theoretical model designed to describe the causal relations existing among loneliness, self-disclosure to peers and parents, and specific antecedent variables. 350 high school students completed the short version of the UCLA Loneliness Scale and measures of interpersonal reactivity and private self-consciousness. Results indicate a good fit between the theoretical model and the observed relations. In addition to replicating the findings of previous studies concerning the relation between self-disclosure and loneliness, results also indicate an indirect relation between private self-consciousness and loneliness via peer self-disclosure: High private self-conscious Ss' greater willingness to self-disclose to peers resulted in their feeling less lonely. Results are discussed in terms of the effects of parental variables, sex differences, and the motivational bases of self-reflection. (44 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adolescent loneliness, self-disclosure, and private self-consciousness: A longitudinal investigation.

Examined the causal relations that exist among loneliness, self-disclosure, and private self-consciousness, building on an earlier study by S. L. Franzoi and M. H. Davis (see record 1985-19892-001). Using structural equation techniques and a longitudinal design, a theoretical model that links these variables was tested with 332 high school students. Results indicate a good fit between the theoretical model and the observed relations. Evidence concerning 2 alternative interpretations of the original Franzoi and Davis study is provided. First, the original hypothesis that private self-consciousness leads to greater self-disclosure to peers is supported, but no support for the alternative view that such disclosure in turn increases private self-consciousness is provided. Second, the original hypothesis that greater self-disclosure reduces loneliness and the alternative view that greater loneliness reduces self-disclosure receive some support from the data. The difficulty in obtaining significant longitudinal paths (from Year 1 to Year 2) suggests that the time lags in the variables' effects on one another are relatively short. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adolescent pregnancy prevention in managed care

Efforts by the US government, employers, and insurance industry to address women's health issues have neglected the problem of adolescent pregnancy. 30 million of the 37.4 million US adolescents have health insurance coverage and 20-40% of them are enrolled in managed care plans, either through private insurance or Medicaid. Each year, managed care insurance plans pay for 150,000-300,000 adolescent pregnancies, half of which end in a live birth. There are many gaps in current approaches to adolescent health care that can be filled by physicians and managed care organizations. Prevention of adolescent pregnancy would have immediate, cost-effective results. Managed care insurance, with its organizational structure, has the potential to address the traditional obstacles to adolescent reproductive health of lack of confidentiality and difficulties with access. An adolescent health care coordinator could be hired to track teen care within the insurance plan, educate staff, and arrange and enforce protocols. It would be instructive to see whether such case management could achieve reductions in repeat adolescent pregnancies by targeting follow-up activities to this risk group. Finally, managed care organizations should analyze teen pregnancy prevention programs in their own setting and select the most effective interventions on the basis of cost and medical outcome rather than political expediency.     

Adolescent pregnancy. A proposal for intervention

Adolescent pregnancy constitutes an important problem, not so much in infant mortality (which is low), but in the diseases which can accompany it. Pregnancies at this age have an elevated social and emotional cost. The principle consequences of adolescent pregnancy are: abortions, forced marriages, undesired motherhood, adoptions and emotional problems that can lead to depression and suicide. Clearly, the impact of these pregnancies can have many lasting repercussions. But one fact persists adolescent pregnancy can and should be prevented. Nurses are in the ideal situation to assume the role as leaders in the fight to prevent teenage pregnancy, whether it be in the local medical clinics or in the schools; our position in the community enables us to know the needs and socioeconomic characteristics of our patients. Nursing training has prepared us to investigate risk factors that are present as well as ways to design programs and educational strategies to inform our young. We must also be prepared, along with other health professionals (doctors, social workers, etc.), to deal with the inevitable unwanted pregnancy. Our job demands that we be able to evaluate the options available to these young people in an atmosphere of support and understanding.     

Adolescent pregnancy and parenthood: Recent evidence and future directions.

An overview of recent research on adolescent sexual activity, pregnancy, and parenthood is presented, with a focus on the dearth of knowledge concerning psychological precursors and consequences. Although the rate of teenage childbearing has decreased substantially this century, increasing rates of sexual activity, illegitimacy, and welfare receipt raise public concerns. New research is discussed that suggests that many negative outcomes previously ascribed to mothers' age are as much causes or correlates of teenage pregnancy as effects of it, although this claim is less substantiated regarding effects on children of teenage mothers. Literature on fathers and grandmothers is summarized, and suggestions are made for furthering this research. An overview is given of recent successes among intervention programs, and policy implications of the new federal welfare law are considered for teenage mothers and their children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social and emotional loneliness: An examination of Weiss's typology of loneliness.

Examined R. S. Weiss's (1973) conceptualization of social and emotional loneliness, using survey data on 505 college students that included the UCLA Loneliness Scale—Revised. Social and emotional loneliness, Ss' affective and behavioral reactions to loneliness, Ss' social relationships, and their judgments of the degree to which their relationships supply the 6 social provisions described by Weiss were measured. There were differences in the subjective experiences of social and emotional loneliness, although both forms of loneliness were also characterized by a common core of experiences. Results generally support Weiss's ideas concerning the determinants of social and emotional loneliness. Predictions concerning the affective and behavioral consequences associated with each type of loneliness, however, were only partly supported, although the 2 forms of loneliness were associated with different affective reactions and coping behaviors. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developing and testing a model of loneliness.

This article presents a model of loneliness that incorporates characteristics of the social network, background variables, personality characteristics, and evaluative aspects. The most salient aspect of this approach is its emphasis on cognitive processes that mediate between characteristics of the social network and the experience of loneliness. A total of 554 adult men and women served as respondents. The program LISREL, a causal modelling approach, was used to analyze the data. The LISREL program includes a goodness-of-fit test that indicates the degree of fit between a particular model and the data. The hypothesized model made a valuable contribution to the understanding of loneliness: It accounted for 52.3% of the variance in the data set. One of the model's major advantages is its ability to disentangle both the direct and the indirect causal influences of the various factors on loneliness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Generalized and specific loneliness in early marriage.

38 husbands (mean age 26 yrs) and wives (mean age 23.8 yrs), married for an average of 35.8 mo and without children, independently completed a set of established measures of loneliness and of aspects of their marital relationship (e.g., UCLA Loneliness Scale). Significant levels of loneliness were reported by some Ss, and only modest correlations were found between the loneliness scores of husbands and wives. General and specific loneliness were related to marital attitudes, particularly less liking, less intimacy, and greater communication apprehension among husbands, and to less liking, less marital satisfaction, less love, and less self-disclosure among the wives. Scores of the spouses and spouse difference scores on several of these variables were also related to loneliness. Findings are discussed as pertaining to loneliness without social isolation and in relation to the quality of relationships. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Correlates of loneliness among midwestern adolescents

The extent of loneliness among midwestern adolescents was investigated in relation to depression, self-esteem, family strengths, parent-adolescent communication, age, and gender. The study sample consisted of 156 adolescents, ranging in age from 11 to 18 years, who were attending public schools in four midwestern communities. It was found that the subjects had high loneliness scores, and that older adolescents were lonelier than younger adolescents. There was a significant relationship between loneliness and depression. Loneliness was negatively related to self-esteem, family strengths, and mother-adolescent communication. The implications of these results for delineating the underlying dimensions of loneliness in adolescents are discussed.     

Adolescent decision making: a broadly based theory and its application to the prevention of early pregnancy

The purpose of this paper is to present a broadly based theory of adolescent decision making including all the necessary components of the subject: cognitive development, social and psychological factors, and, perhaps most importantly, cultural and societal influences. Previous theories and applications have often focused on only one or two aspects. This theory is then applied to the problem of prevention of early pregnancy at an inner-city high school. Use of this theory, combined with an open-ended data-gathering format made possible some of the unexpected findings of this study: most of the young women at this school desire their pregnancies; many of them prefer single parenthood to traditional family structure; and low academic skills and poverty often result in pregnancy, rather than pregnancy causing high school dropouts and a life of poverty. Prevention programs will necessarily differ for sexually active adolescents who do and do not want pregnancy and for younger versus older adolescents. In designing such programs, we need to focus on pregnancy as the problem rather than on adolescent sexuality.     

Measuring loneliness in different relationships.

Describes the construction and preliminary validation of the Differential Loneliness Scale (DLS), a measure that differs from previous scales in that it asks respondents to evaluate the quality and the quantity of their interactions in specific kinds of relationships. During test construction, item analyses were undertaken to lessen content saturation due to depression, anxiety, and self-esteem and to minimize the response-style bias of social desirability. The reliability of the scale is high, with Kuder-Richardson-20 coefficients ranging from .90 to .92, and test–retest coefficients of .85 and .97 for males and females, respectively, over 1 mo. Preliminary evidence suggests that the scale has concurrent validity against several criteria. Moreover, principal component analyses indicated that the DLS has substantive and structural validity. The scale also has student and nonstudent versions. It may be of value in the differential prediction of loneliness in specific kinds of relationships. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceived dimensions of attributions for loneliness.

Examined the applicability of B. Weiner's (1974, 1979) model of causal attributions to lay explanations for the causes of loneliness. Weiner posits 3 dimensions (internality, stability, and controllability) along which causes vary, and links each dimension to distinct consequences for the actor. To test the salience of these dimensions in perceptions of causality, 180 college students made judgments about the causes of loneliness. Multidimensional scaling analyses confirmed that Ss perceived dimensions of internality and stability. Contrary to recent theorizing, controllability was not independent of the other 2 dimensions; instead, controllable causes were both internal and unstable. Confirmation of internality and stability as dimensions underlying attributions for loneliness supports the extension of Weiner's model to the domain of affiliative behavior. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality and interpersonal predictors of loneliness in two cultures.

Administered measures of loneliness and relevant personality and interpersonal constructs to 259 mainland US and 332 Puerto Rican undergraduates to (a) assess cross-cultural variability in previously reported correlates of loneliness and (b) determine the relative contributions of such predictors to the experience of loneliness for each sample. Results show that the Puerto Rican sample reported greater loneliness, and most personality and interpersonal variables yielded differences between the groups. However, the correlates of loneliness appeared to be quite similar for both samples. Factor analyses of loneliness correlates yielded interpretable factors that preserved the ability of the original variables to predict loneliness. Data are consistent with the hypothesis that culture influences the specific values observed for personality and related measures, whereas the fundamental organization of personality remains stable across cultures. Cultural factors are discussed as possible explanations for the few group differences found with respect to predictors of loneliness. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adolescent laparoscopy

The training of surgically competent doctors for South African rural settings is governed by several factors and determinants which include population demographics, distribution of doctors, infrastructural development and socio-economic conditions of the communities. Demands will be influenced by the disease profile, available facilities and academic support. Training options will include community-oriented/based (undergraduate) curriculum and restructured internship training period and acquisition of skills. Postgraduate diplomas and fellowships and continuing medical education and academic support will form an integral part of the training.     

The oldest old, ADL, social network, and loneliness

This study examined the influence of activities of daily living (ADL) and frequency of social contacts on the loneliness and social relationships in a sample of very elderly individuals. Associations between functional ability, social contacts, and emotional loneliness and social loneliness were also assessed. The sample was composed of 221 participants, age 80 to 105 years, residing in the greater Bergen area in Norway. Results demonstrated that dependence on the environment in ADL is related to low levels of emotional loneliness, whereas only dependence in activities of toileting and transferring corresponded with low levels of social loneliness. High frequency of social contacts with family, friends, or neighbors was negatively related to both emotional and social loneliness. Results show that frequency of such contacts appeared to buffer the effect of continence on emotional loneliness and the effect of toileting and transferring on social loneliness.     

Relation between loneliness and depression: A structural equation analysis.

Research on loneliness has been hampered by its strong association with depression. The 2 states frequently co-occur, and measures of the 2 states are substantially correlated. Inability to manipulate experimentally loneliness or depression makes it difficult to untangle the causal influence of one on the other. The combination of longitudinal design and structural equation methodology is proposed as a solution to this general problem. Measures of loneliness and depression (e.g., the Beck Depression Inventory and Profile of Mood States) were administered to undergraduates at 2 points 5 wks apart. Data from 333 Ss were correlated and analyzed under a succession of structural equation models. Results indicate that loneliness and depression were correlated but clearly different constructs; neither was a direct cause of the other, although both probably share some common origins; both were highly stable over the 5-wk period. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adolescent sexuality and societal change

Social changes have occurred so rapidly and in such magnitude as to invalidate previously effective coping mechanisms and to reduce the supporting factors in the social milieu. Concomitant with these changes has been an increase in adolescent sexual behavior. Psychoanalytic theory indicates that this behavior will warp or retard psychosexual maturity, but other authorities disagree with this stance. Present evidence does not allow a definitive statement, but indicates the need for more attention to those adolescents who escape psychic damage.