TY  - EJOU
AU  - Zhou, Yaping 
AU  - Zhong, He 
AU  - Li, Xiaojun 
AU  - Xiang, Yanhui 

TI  - The Relationship between Father-Love Absence and Loneliness: Based on the Perspective of the Social Functionalist Theory and the Social Needs Theory
T2  - International Journal of Mental Health Promotion

PY  - 2024
VL  - 26
IS  - 2
SN  - 2049-8543

AB  - Fathers play an important role in adolescents’ development, which is significant for their development and influences their mental health, including feeling of loneliness. However, the effects and mechanisms of father-love absence on individual loneliness are not clear. Based on the social functionalist theory and the social needs theory, this study examines the influence of individual father-love absence on loneliness and its underlying mechanisms. A questionnaire survey was administered to 319 junior high school students and 1,476 high school students. The results showed that adolescents with father-love absence had higher levels of loneliness, and that father-love absence affected loneliness levels through mediating pathways of individual gratitude, peer relationships, and gratitude to peer relationships. This study not only confirms the negative effects of father-love absence on adolescents’ loneliness, but also explains the mediate roles of individual gratitude and peer relationships. It enriches the theoretical system related to family education and has important theoretical and practical implications for further interventions on adolescents’ mental health from the perspective of fatherless parenting.
KW  - Father-love absence; loneliness; gratitude; peer relationships

DO  - 10.32604/ijmhp.2023.046598