Interparental conflict and family cohesion predictors of loneliness, social anxiety, and social avoidance in late adolescence

Family environment is related to characteristics of adolescents' personal d evelopment and social interactions. Although potentially different for male s and females, decreased family cohesion and increased interparental confli ct can inadvertently provide family environments that are associated with i ncreased feelings of loneliness, which may be associated with problems in a dolescents' social interactions (i.e., social anxiety and serial avoidance) . Analyses of responses from 124 late adolescents revealed that feelings of loneliness were related to perceived levels of interparental conflict for males and females and decreased family cohesion for females. Furthermore, l ate adolescents' feelings of social anxiety and social avoidance were relat ed to their feelings of loneliness. The findings in this study show how det eriorated family systems may provide contexts that are associated with adol escents' feelings of loneliness as well as their ability to engage in socia l interactions outside of the family system.