SOCIAL SUPPORT, LONELINESS AND FRIENDSHIP PREFERENCE AMONG BRITISH ASIAN AND NON-ASIAN ADOLESCENTS

This paper aims to investigate the support-seeking behavior of adolescents (14 and 15 years) of South Asian and other backgrounds, the association between friendship choice and perceived feelings of loneliness, and the complex inter-relationship between these variables. Standardized psychological measures were administered to a sample of 824 Asian and other adolescents. The findings for a weighted sample of 651 show that Asian adolescents have higher levels of perceived feelings of loneliness and a lower level of preference for mixed-ethnic friendship than their non-Asian counterparts. A significant difference is also obtained on the support-seeking behavior between Asian and non-Asian adolescents. The development perspectives of the findings that are implicated in the socialization process are discussed.