LONELINESS AND SOCIAL COMPETENCE AMONG PREADOLESCENTS AND ADOLESCENTS WITH MILD MENTAL RETARDATION

This study aimed to compare loneliness and social competence among two groups of young people with mild mental retardation. The sample consisted of 70 youngsters (46 males and 24 females) divided into two age groups: 38 pre-adolescents (mean age = 11.68 years, SD = ±1.04) and 32 adolescents (mean 3 15.9, SD = ±0.72). Different information sources were tapped: self-reported loneliness and social skills, teacher ratings of aggressive and hyperactive behaviour and peer ratings of social acceptance The results demonstrated that, in comparison to the younger group, adolescents received a more reserved acceptance by their peers, although they reported themselves to feel less lonely and showed higher rates of social competence in terms of less behavioural maladjustment and higher empathy and self-control skills. The meaning of loneliness differed at the two age levels. For the adolescent group, the two aspects of loneliness were negatively related to the empathy, assertion, and cooperation social skills, but not for the younger group, whose perceptions of the two loneliness aspects were more differentiated and differently correlated.