Life satisfaction and loneliness as predictive variables of resilience in adolescent with divorced parents

A descriptive screening study was undertaken to examine the effects of life satisfaction and loneliness on the resilience of teenagers with divorced parents. The participants consisted of a total of 144 teenagers (9th-12th grade students) whose parents are legally divorced. The target study population consisted of teenagers attending high schools in Bolu Province. Despite efforts to contact all individuals in the target population, this was not possible due to a variety of reasons. The study was carried out in a total of 11 state high schools including Anadolu high schools, a teachertraining high school, a general high school, an industrial training high school, a health high school, a trade/commerce high school, a fine arts and sports high school. Data collection was based on data obtained with the following tools: the Adolescent Coping Scale, the Life Satisfaction Scale, the UCLA-Loneliness Scale, and an Individual Information Form. The Pearson correlation coefficient, Multiple Regression Analysis and MANOVA were used for data analyses. No significant differences were found in resilience, loneliness scores, and life satisfaction scores in teenagers with divorced parents as compared with those without divorced parents. However, in the school-support item of the resilience scale, girls had higher scores. A significant correlation was observed between resilience and life satisfaction in teenagers with divorced parents, while a negative and significant v association was found between resilience and loneliness scores in the same population. Also, loneliness emerged as an important predictive variable in terms of resilience. Finally, the number of friends or siblings did not appear to significantly influence the resilience, life satisfaction, and loneliness scores. Key Words: Resilience, Life Satisfaction, Loneliness, Divorce, Adolescent