Personal and family effects on loneliness

Abstract

A loneliness scale was administered to a sample of 876 kindergarten through fourth- grade children; and age level, sex, and reading level were recorded. Data on family structure, maternal employment, and after-school care were obtained on a subsample of 582 children, and a sociometric rating scale was administered to a subsample of 354 children. A significant difference in loneliness was found between popular and rejected children, and the correlation between loneliness and the sociometric measure was significant, but modest. A 2 (Age Level) × 2 (School SES) × 2 (Sex) × 3 (Reading Level) ANOVA indicated that age affected loneliness, with older children reporting loneliness to a greater extent than younger children. Children from schools in lower socioeconomic status (SES) neighborhoods did not differ from children in middle SES schools, and boys and girls did not differ in loneliness. Reading level influenced loneliness, with superior readers being least lonely and below-grade level readers being loneliest. A 3 (Family Structure) × 2 (Maternal Employment) × 4 (After-School Care) ANOVA indicated that family structure affected loneliness, with children in two-parent and single-parent families being less lonely than children in other configurations. Maternal employment had no effect. Children who went home to mothers after school and children who went to organized after-school day-care programs did not differ, but these two groups differed from latchkey children and from children who had other types of after-school care.