The predictors of Loneliness in Adolescents: The role of Gender, Parenting Rearing Behaviors, Friendship Quality, and Shyness

This study was designed to explore the role of gender, parental raring behavior, friendship quality and shyness in the feeling of loneliness during adolescence through the ecological model of human development and the contextual-developmental perspective. ‎‎211 adolescents’ students (‎133 females, 78 males‎) from five high ‎schools in Tehran (Iran) participated in correlational research design (a non-experimental study) and ‎completed the self-report scales including: Loneliness Scale, Short EMBU, Revised Cheek–Buss ‎Shyness Scale, and Friendship–Unfriendship Attachment Inventory ‎‎(SACRAL)‎. The results showed that parenting behavior, shyness, and friendship quality were correlated with loneliness. Moreover, the findings indicated that the low level of friendship quality and high level of parenting behavior in both rejection and over-controlling had a positive correlation with the high level of loneliness in adolescents. In addition, the result showed that male adolescents feel lonelier than female adolescents. The results obtained from the current study provide a number of implications, which can be beneficial in proposing intervention efforts directed toward promoting ideal development and growth during teenage years.