This paper is aimed to consider a scientific article that is devoted to a psychological issue of loneliness in adolescence. The paper will provide a summary and a brief analysis of it. In the course of this, it will outline the background, state the hypothesis, speculate on the methods, and reflect on the conclusion which the author has arrived at.
Loneliness is acknowledged to be a social psychological phenomenon. This is defined as a person’s emotional state which is connected to the absence of close positive emotional relations with people and/or the scare of their probable loss. Loneliness results from the psychological issue of social isolation. Within this notion, it is possible to dwell upon two phenomena: positive loneliness, or seclusion, and negative loneliness, isolation. However, it is important to point out that, in the language, the word “loneliness” tends to have a negative connotation.
It is necessary to state that much research has been done to study the concept of loneliness. One of the most popular themes is a loneliness in adolescence since young people are prone to feelingly lonely. The undertaken research has been aimed to investigate the notion, its reasons and consequences, and its effect.
The article “Experiencing Loneliness in Adolescence: A Matter of Individual Characteristics, Negative Peer Experiences, or Both?” by Vanhulst et al. considers theoretical and practical aspects of loneliness. It reveals the essence of loneliness as a psychological phenomenon. The article provides a typology of loneliness which allows treat it as a problem (isolation) and as a source of personal development (seclusion). What is more, it outlines a strategy of psychological help in the development of personality. However, the article is aimed to reflect on the isolation and its causes and outcomes. Therefore, it constructs a model of the connection between adolescents and their surroundings. This model assists in studying the hypothesized combined impact which intra-personal qualities, such as dignity and timidity, and mutual background, such as passing in the society and relations in friendship, tend to produce on an individual in terms of loneliness. The multi-respondent investigation involved 884 teenagers, with 68 percent of girls among them. As for the method, the researchers have undertaken a survey. The questionnaire has been composed and tested.
After that, the respondent of various ages and from different backgrounds have answered the questions. The results of the survey have been processed and analyzed, and the model has been worked out. The survey has revealed that, first of all, loneliness tends to result from rejection in society, bad relations with other teenagers, and the absence of friends. Besides, all of these happen to affect dignity negatively and, thus, entrain timidity as a psychological problem. Second, it has been outlined that friendship and its characteristics interconnect intra-personal qualities and loneliness. In the end, the survey has revealed a notable interconnection between dignity and passing in the society in foreseeing loneliness. The investigation under consideration underlines that it is necessary to study the combined outcomes of inter-personal qualities and backgrounds in the research of loneliness. The author has recommended continuing working on the model of the connection between an adolescent and the surroundings in terms of loneliness. A possibility of medical application of the research has been delineated (Vanhalst, Luyckx, & Goossens, 2014).
To sum it up, this paper has considered a scientific article that is devoted to a psychological issue of loneliness in adolescence. The paper has provided a summary and a brief analysis of it. It has outlined the background, stated the hypothesis, speculated on the methods, and reflected on the conclusion which the author has arrived at.
References
Vanhalst, J., Luyckx, K., & Goossens, L. (2014). Experiencing Loneliness in Adolescence: A Matter of Individual Characteristics, Negative Peer Experiences, or Both? Social Development, 23(1), 100-118.