Content area
Full text
ABSTRACT
This study investigated the influence of loneliness and relationships with parents and friends on the psychological well-being or adolescent malaise. Data were collected via two questionnaires (LLCA-Marcoen, Goossens & Caes, 1987; TRI-Bracken, 1996) from a sample of 330 Italian adolescents, males and females, aged between 11 and 19. As hypothesized, results showed that a positive relationship with friends and parents promotes psychological well-being in adolescents and reduces malaise. In addition, the study showed that the adolescents were able to distinguish between different states of loneliness; on one hand they could recognize the pain of isolation and social refusal, and on the other, they could recognize the pleasant dimension of loneliness, according to the age and sex. Therefore loneliness can be a risk for the adolescent's well-being if it is caused by social refusal, but it can also be a developmental need (parallel to the need for attachment), and can promote psychological well-being when adolescents choose to be alone.
INTRODUCTION
From the very origins of psychology, adolescence has been considered a difficult stage in the process of development into adulthood. It has been seen as a period of crisis characterized by profound change. In recent times some empirical studies have shown that in reality, the majority of adolescents go through this stage successfully without experiencing particular traumas, reporting a level of relative well-being (Bandura, 1964; Offer & Schonert-Reichl, 1992; Douvan & Adelson, 1996). The greater part of psychological reflection has been devoted to identification of the main factors which, at an individual and interpersonal level, contribute to the promotion and sustenance of adolescents' psychological well-being and those which tend to impede it.
Recent literature has paid particular attention to the importance of interpersonal relations. Different studies recognize that satisfactory relations with parents and friends are connected to a more positive outcome in this stage of development (Hansell & Mechanic, 1990; Claes, 1992; Noom, Dekovic, & Meeus, 1999; Bina, Cattelino, & Bonino, 2004). As far as relations with peers are concerned, friendship is a major contributor to adolescents' psychosocial adaptation and constitutes an important protective element against deviant behavior, depression, and feelings of alienation (Schneider, Wiener, & Murphy, 1994; Bukowski, Newcomb, & Hartup, 1996). At the same time, the importance of the family's role has...