Loneliness and Aggression in Adolescents Living in Institutionalized Care

Abstract

A cross-sectional study was conducted to find out the relationship between loneliness and aggression among adolescents living in institutionalized care. Data were collected from 120 boys and 120 girls with an age range of 11 to 18 years (M= 14.61, SD= 1.92). It was hypothesized that loneliness would predict aggression differently in girls and boys. The assessment was made with Buss and Perry aggression questionnaire (Buss & Perry, 1992) and UCLA loneliness scale (Russell et al., 1980).Results from hierarchical regression analyses revealed that adolescents perceiving a higher level of loneliness expressed more physical aggression similarly in both girls and boys. However, Loneliness positively predicted verbal aggression and hostility in girls but not in boys. Further, generally, girls expressed more anger than boys.