Investigation of the relationship among loneliness levels, attachment styles, and dysfunctional beliefs of adolescents (Sample of Malatya)

The purpose of the present study is to investigate the relationship among loneliness levels, attachment styles and dysfunctional beliefs of 9th grade students.In order to determine the sample of the study, ten state high schools were randomly selected out of 32 high schools located in the province of Malatya. The sample of the study is composed of 615 9th graders (F= 287, M= 328). To measure the loneliness levels of the subjects, the UCLA Loneliness Scale was used, while the Attachment Styles Scale for Early Adolescents was used to determine different attachment styles of the subjects. The Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale-A was used to measure dysfunctional beliefs of the subjects. Because six out of 621 subjects did not answer the scales properly, statistical analyses were performed on the data coming from 615 subjects. To examine the hypotheses of the research, Pearson-momentum Correlation Coefficient, t-test, Mann Whitney U-test, regression analyses, one-way ANOVA, and Kruskall Wallis-test were used.Results of the study indicate that the more dysfunctional beliefs one holds the more loneliness she/he feels. Therefore, subjects having high level of loneliness tend to display anxious and avoidant attachment styles more often than those having low level of loneliness. There is a negative relationship between secure attachment style and loneliness. That is subjects having low level of loneliness tend to develop secure attachment or vice versa. Regression analysis revealed that perfectionist beliefs and autonomous beliefs had a predictive power on loneliness scores at a significant level as well as avoidant and anxious attachment styles. According to the findings of the study, there was a significant difference between mean scores of girls and boys obtained from the loneliness scale. Boys seem to have a higher level of loneliness than girls. When attachment styles were compared according to gender, no significant differences were obtained for anxious and avoidant styles. Nevertheless, a significant difference was found between boys and girls for secure attachment style. Girls seem to attach more securely than boys do. According to Mann Whitney-U test results, boys seem to use dysfunctional beliefs more often in general than girls do. Yet, analysis revealed no significant difference between boys and girls for all subscales of the DAS-A. Finally, in the lights of the findings, some suggestions are made to researchers and practitioners in the counseling field.