Open Access

ARTICLE

The Relationship between Father-Love Absence and Loneliness: Based on the Perspective of the Social Functionalist Theory and the Social Needs Theory

Yaping Zhou^1,2,5,#, He Zhong^3,#, Xiaojun Li^4,*, Yanhui Xiang^1,2,5,*

1 Moral Culture Research Center of Hunan Normal University, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, 410081, China
2 Research Center for Mental Health Education of Hunan Province, Changsha, 410081, China
3 Beijing Huijia Private School, Beijing, 102200, China
4 Tao Xingzhi Research Institute, Nanjing Xiao Zhuang University, Nanjing, 211171, China
5 Cognition and Human Behavior Key Laboratory of Hunan Province, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, 410081, China

* Corresponding Authors: Xiaojun Li. Email: ; Yanhui Xiang. Email:
# Yaping Zhou and He Zhong contributed equally to this work

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Psychological Therapy in Education Contexts: Focusing on Teachers’ and Students’ Mental Health based on Cognitive, Emotional, Social, and Behavioral Factors)

International Journal of Mental Health Promotion 2024, 26(2), 139-148. https://doi.org/10.32604/ijmhp.2023.046598

Received 08 October 2023; Accepted 25 December 2023; Issue published 08 March 2024

Abstract

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.

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Keywords

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