CHILDREN'S CONCEPTIONS OF LONELINESS--AGE DIFFERENCE

孤独、孤立和疏远的感觉通常被描述为 部分情感状态伴随着辍学，青少年 自杀和其他健康发展的失败。 持续性孤独 会成为一个严重的压力源，伴随而来的是缺乏社会支持， 网络会干扰成功应对。 虽然有 大量的数据支持这样一种观点，即使是非常年幼的儿童， 经历孤独，不清楚孤独的意义是什么， 小孩子，事实上，任何年龄的孩子。 最早的研究 可以理解的是，孩子们的孤独感集中在记录 孤独的存在和流行，并检查相关因素， 孤独感与行为和同伴接纳的关系。 只有两项研究， 目前正在进行的，已经研究了孤独对儿童的意义： 一个是幼儿园和一年级的孩子，一个是中学的孩子， 孩子 这项研究的目的是记录年龄相关的差异， 儿童的孤独概念，并检查如何个人 儿童社会功能的差异与他们对 孤独 这项研究将集中在三个领域的儿童 理解：孤独的定义及其伴随的影响， 孤独原因的概念，以及潜在的概念 应对和结束孤独状态的策略。 受试者将包括 一年级、四年级、六年级和十年级各125名学生。 措施 包括Asher等人的孤独感问卷，两个测量 社会地位，同伴和老师对行为的评价，智商/学校 成就的措施，和个人访谈挖掘儿童的 孤独的概念 拟议的调查将有助于 理解儿童社会关系的过程 通过研究儿童对孤独的概念以及 这些概念和儿童的社会功能。

Feelings of loneliness, isolation and alienation are often described as parts of the affective state accompanying school dropout, adolescent suicide, and other failures of healthy development. Persistent loneliness can become a serious stressor, and an accompanying lack of a social support network can interfere with successful coping. Although there are substantial data to support the notion that even very young children experience loneliness, it is not clear what the meaning of loneliness is to young children, or in fact, to children of any age. The first studies of loneliness in children have, understandably, focused on documenting the existence and prevalence of loneliness, and on examining the correlates of loneliness with behavior and with peer acceptance. Only two studies, both currently underway, have examined the meaning of loneliness to children: one with kindergarten and first-grade children, and one with middle-school children. The goal of this study is to chronicle age-related differences in children's conceptions of loneliness and to examine how individual differences in children's social functioning relate to their conceptions of loneliness. This study will focus on three areas of children's understanding: definitions of loneliness and its accompanying affects, conceptions of the causes of loneliness, and conceptions of potential strategies for coping with and ending lonely states. Subjects will consist of 125 children each from first, fourth, sixth, and tenth grades. Measures will include Asher et al.'s loneliness questionnaire, two measures of sociometric status, peer and teacher ratings of behavior, IQ/school achievement measures, and an individual interview tapping children's conceptions of loneliness. The proposed investigation will contribute to understanding of the processes involved in children's social relationships by examining children's conceptions of loneliness and the links between these conceptions and children's social functioning.