The mediating role of relatedness between repair and loneliness: A preliminary model in high school students

Abstract

Research has shown that loneliness may impair mental health and psychosocial adjustment during adolescence. There is separate evidence of the role of relatedness and emotional repair as predictors of perceived loneliness during adulthood. The objective of the present study was to analyze the mediating role of relatedness between emotional repair and loneliness in high school students. The sample included 703 students attending five different schools. Results of a simple mediation analysis seemed to support the mediating role of relatedness. However, since the interaction between emotional repair and relatedness was significant, a moderated mediation was conducted, which showed that the proposed mediation was dependent on the levels on repair and relatedness. Specifically, relatedness only had a mediating role when the levels of relatedness were low and the levels of repair were high. These and other results point to a more complex relation between emotional repair, relatedness, and loneliness than initially expected.