Family Environment as Predictor of Adolescent's Loneliness Miroslava BALÁŽOVÁ, Ivana GALLOVÁ, Ján PRAŠKO, Miloš ŠLEPECKÝ*, Antónia KOTIANOVÁ Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Constantinus the Philosopher in Nitra

I n t r O D U C T I O N In the last three decades has occurred the gradual changed of current paradigm in psychotherapy- from the accentuation of autonomy, freedom and self realization toward the meaning of attachment and intersubjectivity – interaction and empathy in relations. This is probably related to the social development: recently it was a fight for freedom and autonomy. Isolation and focus on self become a normal part of a lifestyle.1 The incidence of loneliness grew especially among adolescents, the research showed that 80% of young people under 18 feel lonely. 2 Egocentrism and rejection of strong principles as well as disintegration of traditional family, leads often to parenting neglect, deficit in internalised relation patterns and norms of behaviour, to inadequate mutual respect and empathy. It is necessary to take into account the balance between two basic human needs- intersubjectivity, relatedness, autonomy and individualism. This can be achieved through mutual empathy and influence during therapy. 1 If person feels understood, he creates a set of attitudes toward himself that support his own growth and reduce loneliness.3

Family environment and loneliness of adolescents I n t r O D U C T I O N Family environment and loneliness of adolescents In the centre of presented research is the growing loneliness of adolescents and its predictors that are in family environment- empathy, emotional relationship, parenting control of parents- because the relationship with the attachment figure largely affects adolescent's´ interpersonal relationships. Empathy of parent teaches adolescent to deal with his own feelings and to empathize with other people, develop social competences. Adolescents who were brought up by empathetic parents are more popular, more confident and less lonely.3,4,5, 6 Emotional relationship of parent Positive (warmth) emotional relation helps adolescent to develop positive self image, assertive behaviour, ability to succeed in social groups, and solve interpersonal conflict 7,8 making more satisfying relationships and experiencing less loneliness. 9, 10, 11, 12 Negative emotional relationship leads to higher aggresivity or to passive behaviour and to problematic social relationships of adolescents and to following feelings of loneliness and social isolation. 6, 13, 14 Parenting control excessively benevolent and excessively control parenting is connected with the feeling of loneliness in adolescent. 15, 16, 17

The role of mother and father in family The parent of the opposite sex I n t r O D U C T I O N The role of mother and father in family The parent of the opposite sex affects the confidence toward the members of opposite sex and helps to shape their future romantic relationships which quality affects the level of perceived emotional loneliness 3 The parent of the same sex is more involved in child´s parenting and vice versa child reacts more on the parent of the same sex, it represents a model, teaches adolescent to develop social competence that are necessary for interpersonal relationships 18, 19, 20

Research aims and research questions I n t r O D U C T I O N Research aims and research questions Examining variables of family environment – empathy of parent, emotional relationship and control of parent as predictors of experienced feelings of loneliness in adolescent boys and girls. Determine whether is different influence of mother and father in parenting of adolescent girls and boys. RQ1: What is the unique contribution of empathy, emotional relationship and control of mother and father to loneliness of adolescent boys? RQ2: What is the unique contribution of empathy, emotional relationship and control of mother and father to loneliness of adolescent girls?

M e t h o d s Measures The research sample 206 adolescents BASIC EMPATHY SCALE (Jolliffe & Farrington, 2006, translation Čavojová, Sirota, & Belovičová, 2012) – adolescents reported about perceived cognitive and affective empathy of mother and father in 20 items rated on a 5 point scale (strongly agree- strongly disagree)21 PARENTING STYLE QUESTIONNAIRE (Čáp & Boschek, 1994) – adolescents reported in 40 items four components of parenting of mother and father (positive and negative component, demanding and freedom) from which were created two complex characteristics of parenting (quality of emotional relationship and control) 3 UCLA – LONELINESS SCALE (Russell, Peplau, & Cutrona , 1980) – adolescents reported in 20 items subjective feelings of loneliness 22 206 adolescents (84 ♂ and 122 ♀) aged 10 – 18 years (Mage = 14.18; SD = 2.43) from primary (n=138) and secondary schools (n= 68)

Results & Discussion Predictors of loneliness from family environment in adolescent boys Loneliness of Boys Cognitive Empathy of Father Affective Empathy of Father Emotional Relatioship of Father Parental Control of Father Cognitive Empathy of Mother Affective Empathy of Mother Emotional Relatioship of Mother Parental Control of Mother .218* .059 -.030 .039 .042 .095 -.376* -.071 Model 2 explains 14.7% variance in loneliness of boys (R2=0.147; F=6.909; p=0.002)

Affective empathy of father Results & Discussion The significant predictors of loneliness in adolescent boys Emotional relationship of mother → the results confirm that negative emotional relationship of mother predicts higher level of loneliness in adolescent boys → negative emotional relationship and lack of emotional attention of mother raise the son´s negative attitudes to other people, prevent him to build interpersonal relations and blunt his empathy 20, 21; warm mother until the age of six is for the boy model of female role, helps him to create confidence in himself and opposite sex, better handle interpersonal conflicts, succeed in social groups and make him popular in the groups of peers 4, 20, 22, 23, what heads to the elimination of loneliness of boys Affective empathy of father → the results confirm that higher affective empathy of father predicts lower level of loneliness in adolescent boys → fathers who are able to emotionally resonate with their sons are able to tune in their surviving and provide them enough interest and empathy, increase their ability to regulate their own emotions, raise their self esteem and sense of security that boys feel in the contact with peers that prevent them from the feelings of loneliness and isolation from others. 23, 24, 25

Results & Discussion Predictors of loneliness from family environment in adolescent girls Loneliness of Girls Cognitive Empathy of Father Affective Empathy of Father Emotional Relatioship of Father Parental Control of Father Cognitive Empathy of Mother Affective Empathy of Mother Emotional Relatioship of Mother Parental Control of Mother -.012 -.317* -.247* .011 -.037 -.080 -.033 Model 2 explains 22.9% variance in loneliness of girls -.183 (R2=0.229; F=15.999; p=0.000)

Emotional relation of father Cognitive empathy of father Results & Discussion The significant predictors of loneliness in adolescent girls Emotional relation of father → the results confirm that negative emotional relation of father predicts higher level of loneliness in adolescent girls → these findings are consistent with the statements that negative emotional relation of parent leads to higher feelings of loneliness in peer relationships; emotionally cold and non empathetic fathers cause mistrust in their daughters and it can cause inability to establish interpersonal relationships, excessive shyness, social anxiety and problems with adaptation what lead to feelings of loneliness.27, 28 Cognitive empathy of father → the results confirm that higher cognitive empathy of father predicts lower level of loneliness in adolescent girls → these findings are consistent with the statements that fathers who are able to understand surviving of their adolescent girls, provide them enough support and encourage development of their self esteem and self confidence, what girls applied in their relationships, empathetic fathers protect their daughter from failure and help them to achieve feeling of their own value. 20, 23, 26

Conclusion Cold, emotionless relation, lack of interest and empathy from the parent are the most significant predictors of loneliness in adolescents from the family environment in comparison to the parental control which is the case of insufficient demands (excessive freedom) as well as overcontrol and directive approach of parent → these findings may be related to the fact that adolescents in research evaluated their parents mostly as benevolent with positive emotional relation, while the results of previous researches showed that especially pathological control and lack of love and sensitivity from the parent of the same sex is connected with the problems of adolescents in relationships 3, 29, 30 and with feelings of loneliness Todays parents refrain from control and punishment and prefer empathetic, sensitive and benevolent approach 31, 32, 33 → previous researches showed that this kind of approach leads in conflict situations to the greater interest in adolescent needs what reduce the possibility of hostile or aggressive reaction 28 Family environment represents more significant predictor of loneliness in adolescent girls than in adolescent boys → these findings are consistent with the statements that girls are more sensitive to the influence of family environment than boys 18 Therapeutic potential of empathy as well as emotional warmth as quality that dissolve alienation and create potential shield against feelings of loneliness in adolescents → obtain findings support the importance of empathy´s development from the parents and therapists, as well as the importance of empathy in counselling relation as one of the „necessary and sufficient“ qualityy that leads to constructive change in personality 34

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