Why are they lonely? Perceived quality of early relationships with parents, attachment, personality predispositions and loneliness in first-year university students

Loneliness has been found to be associated with attachment and social anxiety but was not included in prior work.

“Also, other important interpersonal outcomes, such as loneliness, have also been found to be associated with attachment (Fransson et al., 2016;Wiseman et al., 2006) and social anxiety (Lasgaard et al., 2011) but were not included in this prior work.”

Secure individuals tend to form closer relationships with others and get more involved in social groups than insecure attached individuals.

“Secure individuals tend to form closer relationships with others and get more involved in social groups than insecure attached individuals.”

First year college students securely attached to their parents are less prone to experience loneliness.

“Finally, some evidence has indicated that first year college students that are securely attached to their parents are less prone to experience loneliness (Wiseman et al., 2006).”

Early attachment bonds shape subsequent relationships.

“First, this research supports the theoretical proposition that early attachment bonds shape subsequent relationships.”

It is likely that they are often surrounded by people, in accordance with Wiseman et al.'s (2006) findings and hence they report lower levels of loneliness.

“For this reason, it is likely that they are often surrounded by people, in accordance with Wiseman et al.'s (2006) findings and hence they report lower levels of loneliness.”