Personality, peer relations, and self-confidence as predictors of happiness and loneliness

“As explained in Theoretical Background above, we expect a negative relationship between loneliness and each of happiness and SWL (Lewis & Joseph, 1995), assuming our measures are valid (Cheng & Furnham, 2002; Ozben, 2013).”

“Given that loneliness has been linked to higher neuroticism and reduced extraversion (Cheng & Furnham, 2002; Vanhalst et al., 2012) and studies have linked personality to specific uses and motivations for using social technologies, personality may explain some of the inconsistencies in the…”

“Using the Oxford Happiness Inventory, Cheng and Furnham (2002) found a small correlation between school grades and happiness (r = 0.25) among 90 adolescents aged 16–18 from three schools in the UK.”

“Preliminary research on the affective dimension of SWB indicates that high school students with more frequent experiences of positive emotions have better cognitive and psychological engagement in learning, as well as school grades (Cheng & Furnham, 2002 ; Reschly, Huebner, Appleton, & Antaramian, 2008 ).”

“…a growing interest in interindividual differences in loneliness over the last years, surprisingly few studies have directly focused on the association between loneliness and broader personality traits (Cheng & Furnham, 2002; Teppers et al., 2013; Mund & Neyer, 2016, 2018; Abdellaoui et al., 2019).”

“Yang (2016) reported that higher loneliness – which is associated with lower extraversion (Cheng & Furnham, 2002) – was related to increased sharing of photographs and videos on Instagram.”

“Consistent with the findings that social relationships contribute to well-being, extraversion, which is associated with friendships and social activity, is reliably and strongly correlated with happiness ( Cheng and Furnham 2001, 2002, 2003; Hayes and Joseph 2003; Hills and Argyle 2001; Neto 2001; Pavot et al. 1990).”

“General feelings of confidence and social interactions in school children are related to adolescent loneliness (Cheng & Furnham 2002).”

“, personality, genetics, and academic performance) that have been identified in previous literature (e.g., Baker et al. 1992; Cheng and Furnham 2002; Goldsmith et al. 1999; Goswami 2014; Lykken and Tellegen 1996; Novgorodovaa et al. 2013; Schimmack et al. 2008; Weiss et al. 2008) as important correlates of and/or cont…”

“Confidence is closely linked with self-esteem (Clough et al., 2002), which has also been associated with peer relationships (e.g. Cheng & Furnham, 2002; Rose & Rudolph, 2006).”

“Eysenck’s dimension of Extraversion was found to be associated to happiness and to loneliness and Neuroticism was negatively correlated to happiness (Cheng and Furnham, 2002).”

“…holding mastery-approach goals (an adaptive form of motivational goals whereby learners strive to improve their understanding and skills, rather than performance- or avoidant-approach goals, which can be maladaptive) (Cheng and Furnham, 2002; King, 2017; Wormington and Linnenbrink-Garcia, 2017).”

“…points in this direction, as neuroticism is related to harsh self-judgement, isolation/loneliness and over-identification with one’s thoughts and emotions, or rumination (Cheng & Furnham, 2002; Clara, Cox, & Enns, 2003; Dunkley, Sanislow, Grilo, & McGlashan, 2009; Wupperman & Neumann, 2006).”

“Furthermore, they are known to predict lack of psychological wellbeing and mental health (Argyle, 2013; Cheng & Furnham, 2002).”

“Research examining specific domains of self-esteem found that loneliness was related with self-esteem in the subdomains of close friendships, romantic appeal, academic performance, and physical appearance (Cheng and Furnham 2002; Grøholt et al. 2005).”

“…2015), whereas children with reciprocated friends tend to feel better about themselves, are more sociable, prosocial, happier, and less likely to be bullied (Cheng & Furnham, 2002; Kendrick, Jutengren, & Stattin, 2012; Malcolm, Jensen-Campbell, Rex-Lear, & Waldrip, 2006; Newcomb & Bagwell, 1995).”

“Neuroticism has also been found to be highly correlated with the individual state of happiness in mind (Cheng and Furnham 2002).”

“For example, this may be related to personality traits and a need for communication [51].”

“…between overall friendship quality and happiness or subjective well-being in children (Goswami, 2012; Holder & Coleman, 2007), adolescents (Cheng & Furnham, 2002; Raboteg-Saric & Sakic, 2013), early adults (Demir & Özdemir, 2010; Demir, Özdemir & Weitekamp, 2007; Demir & Weitekamp, 2007),…”

“…which has often been used among adolescents in school settings, have typically found no statistically significant differences between girls and boys (Koenig and Abrams 1999), but when they were found, adolescent boys appear to be lonelier than girls (Cheng and Furnham 2002; Uruk and Demir 2003).”

“As a further support for this finding, the study findings of Cheng and Furnham (2002) revealed moderate, negative correlations between general self-efficacy and both the intimate others and social others subscales of the UCLA loneliness scale.”

“In addition, the negative correlation between interpersonal relationships and loneliness is also quite robust (Cheng and Furnham, 2002), and research has suggested that poor-quality interpersonal relationships are closely linked to loneliness (Vanhalst et al., 2014).”

“…find a significant association between happiness and academic achievement (Huebner, 1991b; Huebner & Alderman, 1993), recent research has shown the link between both variables (Cheng & Furnham, 2002; McCullough & Huebner, 2003), and across different cultures (Kirkcaldy, Furnham, & Siefen, 2004).”

“…& Stevens, 1997; Joronen & Kurki, 2005; Mcknight, Huebner, & Suldo, 2002; Rask, Kurki, & Paavilainen, 2003; Shek & Lee, 2007), and also academic factors (Ash & Huebner, 2001; Baker, 1998; Cheng & Furnham, 2002; Huebner, 1991; Huebner & Alderman, 1993; Huebner & Gilman, 2003; Suldo & Huebner, 2004).”

“These studies have focused on the relations between subjective well-being and variables such as academic achievement ( Cheng and Furnham 2002; Huebner 1991; Huebner and Alderman 1993), intelligence (Ash and Huebner 1998), school satisfaction (Baker 1998; Huebner and Gilman 2003), and teacher support (Suldo and Huebner…”

“Many studies of the relation between positive or negative affect and college-success variables have relied on respondents’ self-reports of those variables (particularly grades and class absences) rather than on institutional records (e.g., Bolger 1990; Cheng and Furnham 2002; Goh and Moore 1978; Kashdan and Yuen 2007;…”

“This finding is similar to the findings of other Finnish studies (16,28) but contrary to those published in some other countries, such as Canada or UK (29,30).”

“Although previous research pinpointed the connection between loneliness and low academic achievement (Cheng & Furnham, 2002), it is important to examine the nature of these goals and how students work toward them in adolescents with high levels of loneliness and learning difficulties.”

“…demonstrated positive, concurrent relationships between school grades and global LS among students from the United States (Quinn&Duckworth 2007; Suldo et al. 2008) and the United Kingdom (Cheng and Furnham 2002); however, other studies have found non-significant relationships (e.g., Huebner 1991b).”

“Positive affect was also weakly associated with academic achievement (Cheng & Furnham, 2002; Nickerson, Diener, & Schwarz, 2011).”

“Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of .90 with 347 participants was reported by Argyle et al., .78 with 101 participants, (Cheng and Furnham 2002) and .84 was reported with 180 participants in a shorter form by Lo.”

“…and emotional changes that they are experiencing(Kulaksizoglu, 2001); they also feel loneliness if they are rejected by their friends(Bilgiç, 2000; Cheng & Furnham, 2002), when their need for love is not fulfilled and when they have negative social experiences at school(Woodward & Frank, 1988).”

“Loneliness is often considered to be a specific form of emotional distress, whereas depressive symptoms are considered to be a more general form of emotional distress (Cheng & Furnham, 2002).”

“…these aspects are specifically relevant during adolescence given the central role of capacities, vigor, and peer interaction (Caprara et al., 2006; Cheng & Furnham, 2002; Clifford, 1971; Coleman & Hendry, 1990; Gaspar de Matos et al., 2010; Holder & Coleman, 2009; Lerner & Galambos, 1998; Mahon &…”

“23, range 16-18) in three schools in the UK (Cheng and Furnham 2002).”

“Third, all of the selected measures evaluated constructs that are particularly relevant to gifted students, such as loneliness (Cheng & Furnham, 2002; Ogurlu et al., 2018; Özbay & Palanci, 2011), self-esteem (Lam & Kirby, 2002; Thomson, 2012), math self-concept (Litster & Roberts, 2010; Marsh et…”

“A positive attitude towards oneself and life is related to optimism, which in turn is associated with a sense of self-confidence, better coping with stress and stronger resilience [8,9].”

“…has been found to positively predict life satisfaction in both adults (e.g., Chen, Cheung, Bond, & Leung, 2006; Hong & Giannakopoulos, 1994) and adolescents (e.g., Neto, 1993, 2001; Zhang & Leung, 2002) and to negatively predict loneliness (Cheng & Furnham, 2002; Zhao, Kong, & Wang, 2012).”

“As some studies stated, one of the social-emotional problems can be loneliness among gifted students (Cheng & Furnham, 2002; Özbay & Palanci, 2011).”

“In contrast, individuals with lower extraversion are more likely to be susceptible to loneliness (Cheng & Furnham, 2002; Kong et al., 2015), interpersonal chronic life stress (Uliaszek et al., 2010), social anxiety (NaragonGainey, Watson, & Markon, 2009), depression (Jylhä & Isometsä, 2006;…”

“Similarly, people who score high on positive psychological characteristics are more likely to initiate and develop positive social relationships with others (Cheng & Furnham, 2002).”

“Personality traits are an important predictor of depression and loneliness (Cheng and Furnham 2002; Shi et al. 2015), because they determine how individuals interact with their surroundings.”

“First, self-confidence is defined as a ‘person’s sense of his or her own competence or skill and perceived capability’ (Cheng and Furnham 2002, 330).”

“This in agreement with research that found that self-con fi dence moderates the relationship between neuroticism and loneliness (Cheng & Furnham, 2002).”

“Moreover, it has been reported that there were positive relationship between students‟ subjective well-being and academic achievement (Cheng & Furnham, 2002).”

“Some previous studies have shown that extravert managers have higher confidence in their decisions ( Cheng & Furnham, 2002; White, Varadarajan, & Dacin, 2003).”

“higher happiness [10] and more positive life satisfaction [6, 11].”

“Loneliness has also been found to correlate negatively with extraversion, self-esteem (de JongGierveld, 1987), self-confidence (Cheng & Furnham, 2002), acceptance of others (Levin & Stokes, 1986) and mattering (Flett et al., 2016).”

“…research that has established feelings of loneliness as a consequence of peer experience, and individuals’ emotions and motivations, respectively (Cheng & Furnham, 2002; Gest, Welsh, & Domitrovich, 2005; Mahon, Yarcheski, Yarcheski, Cannella, & Hanks, 2006; Mouratidis & Sideridis, 2009;…”

“…and support from teachers where through the practice and positive teaching methods conducted by teachers, in addition to improving academic abilities and student achievement, it can also improve student well-being (NSW Government, 2015; Eryilmaz, 2015; Cheng & Furnham, 2002; Ash & Huebner, 2001).”

“Adapting rational values creates a more influential personality and self-confidence characteristics; such enrichments will generate the atmosphere of happiness and competency [28].”