Loneliness and Locus of Control among Adolescents Belonging To Nuclear and Joint Families

Family plays a very prominent and important role in an adolescent’s life. Adolescents may encounter rejections and subsequently develop the feeling of loneliness. The study aims to investigate loneliness and locus of control among adolescents belonging to joint and nuclear families. A total of 120 adolescents (males=60; females=60) in age range of 15-17 years residing in nuclear and joint families. Locus of Control Scale Indian Adaptation of Levensons Scale (Vohra, 1992) and Perceived Loneliness Scale (Jha, 1997) were administered to the participants. Analysis of variance revealed that the adolescents belonging to nuclear and joint families significantly differed on loneliness score. Results indicated that there was no difference between powerful others, chance control (external factors) and adolescents in nuclear and joint families, and individual control (internal factors) and adolescents in nuclear and joint families. Hence, it can be concluded that adolescents in nuclear families were lonelier as compared to adolescents in joint families. The study also shows that adolescents residing in joint families possessed higher internal locus of control whereas adolescents from nuclear families had higher external locus of control.