Loneliness becomes more prevalent as youth transition from childhood into adolescence. A key underlying process may be the puberty-related increase in biological stress reactivity, which can alter social behavior and elicit conflict or social withdrawal (fight-or-flight behaviors) in some youth, but increase prosocial (tend-and-befriend) responses…

Findings suggest that peers' ratings of behavior of coparticipants in small, interpersonally oriented groups might yield valid data on how accepting the participants were of both others and self. An instrument designed to assess both self-acceptance and the acceptance of others in small groups was used to measure personality. (Author)