De relatie tussen sociale en emotionele eenzaamheid en volwassen hechtingstijlen, vriendschapskwaliteit en sekse

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between adult attachment and emotional and social loneliness among participants. The possibly mediating role of friendship quality and the moderating role of sex are also examined. Loneliness is related to different clinically relevant problems, examination of the predictors of loneliness is therefore of great importance. In trains on different trajectories of the Dutch Railways (Nederlandse Spoorwegen) participants filled in questionnaires. The results show that participants with an insecure attachment style report more total loneliness in comparison to participants with a secure attachment style. Participants with an anxious attachment style report more total loneliness than participants with an avoidant attachment style. Furthermore only here there appears to be a difference between social and emotional loneliness, participants with an avoidant attachment style report higher levels of social loneliness and participants with an anxious attachment style report more emotional loneliness. Friendship quality showed to be a partial mediator of the relationship between attachment and total loneliness. Insecure attachment is related to worse friendship quality and a good friendship quality is related to less reported total loneliness. The expected moderating role of sex is not found. It can be concluded that this study contributes to understanding the relationship between attachment, friendship and loneliness. Furthermore, this study is innovative by the distinction made between social and emotional loneliness.