THE COMPARISON OF LONELINESS, SELF-DIFFERENTIATION AND NEUROTICISM IN INDIVIDUALS WITH AND WITHOUT ORTHODONTIC TREATMENT

The body and concerns about it are one of the most important concerns in the lives of individuals, especially young people. The purpose of this study was to compare feelings of loneliness, self-differentiation, and neurotic symptoms in individuals with and without orthodontic treatment.

The method of this study is causal-comparative in a cross-sectional type. The statistical population of this study included all referrals who were referred to dental centers of Ahvaz from January to March of 2019. The statistical sample of this study consisted of 80 individuals (two groups of 40 persons) from the statistical population who were selected by available single-stage cluster random sampling and their age range was 19 to 40 years. Data were collected using Di Tomassochr('39')s Loneliness Questionnaire, Brennan & Bast, Shortened Self-Differentiation Questionnaire, and Neo-PI-R Revised Short Symptom Inventory.

Findings of multivariate analysis of variance showed that there was a significant difference between individuals with and without orthodontic demand in loneliness (F=9/6, p<0/001) and its components, differentiation (F=8/9, p<0/001) and its components, and symptoms of neuroticism (F=9/1, p<0/001); but there was no significant difference in social loneliness (F=2/1, p<0/1) and emotional cut-off (F=1/08, p<0/3) between individuals with and without orthodontic demand.

It is recommended that by screening and identifying orthodontic clients, people who are mentally challenged and physically in need are identified as being in need of orthodontic treatment and that they can receive psychological supervision and treatment.