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Received: December 15, 2015
Revision received: November 25, 2015
Accepted: February 7, 2016
OnlineFirst: April 5, 2016
Abstract
The current research aims to investigate the serial-multiple mediation of general belongingness and life satisfaction in the relationship between loneliness and attachment to parents and peers in adolescents. The participants of the research consisted of 218 high school students (F = 126, 57.8%; M = 92, 42.2%). Age of the participants' ranged between 14 and 18 with a mean of 15.84 (SD = 1.42). Instruments in the current research included the Personal Information Form, Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment, UCLA Loneliness Scale, General Belongingness Scale, and Satisfaction with Life Scale. Data analysis was conducted using descriptive statistics, the Pearson correlation coefficient, ordinary least-squares regression analysis, and bootstrap method. Based on the research findings, the serial-multiple mediation of general belongingness and life satisfaction in the relationship between loneliness and attachment to parents and peers was found to be statistically significant. Findings of the study were discussed under the light of relevant literature, and some suggestions were made for future studies.
Keywords
Attachment * Loneliness * General belongingness * Life satisfaction * Bootstrap method * Serial-multiple mediation
Attachment is defined as the emotional bond a person builds with someone significant in their lives (Ainsworth, 1969, p. 2; Becker-Weidman & Shell, 2010, p. 1; Bridges, 2003, p. 177). During infancy and childhood, bonds are established with parents (or caregivers) who are looked to for protection, comfort, and help. These bonds are sustained throughout the adolescence and adulthood, but are commonly completed through new bonds with people of the opposite sex (Bowlby, 2012, p. 213). One of these bonds shows up in peer attachment. According to Hazan and Shaver (1994, p. 8), if peers perform the same priority functions as one's parents did during infancy and childhood, and if peers satisfy the individual's same needs for support and safety as their parents did, then after a while, the bond of attachment is expected to be transferred from parents to peers. Ainsworth (1969, p. 2; Bowlby, 2012a, p. 135), on the other hand, emphasized that the attachment builds later, whether to parents or peers, and tends to be sustained; this attachment is not a term that implies a temporary relationship...