The Educational Effect of the Family on the Feeling of Security: the Mediating Role of Loneliness in the Correlation between Childhood Abuse and Psychological Security

The evolutionary history affected by family upbringing, especially psychological traits related to traumatic events, bonds, relationships, and family connections play a significant role in people's basic feelings.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the mediating role of loneliness in the relationship between childhood abuse experiences and psychological security.

The research method was the correlation of the type of structural equation modeling. The population of this study included all undergraduate students of Lorestan University in the academic year 2021-2022. The statistical sample size was determined based on Klein's thumb rule equal to 240 people which was done by available sampling method and online questionnaire. The instruments used in this study were the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (Bernstein, Stein, Newcomb, & et al, 2003) University of California Los Angeles Loneliness Scale (UCLA, 1978; Russell, Peplau & Ferguson), and the Psychological Security Questionnaire (PSQ, 2004; cited in Shams & Khalijian, 2014). Data analysis was performed using structural equation modeling statistical method and by the SPSS-22, and AMOS-24 software.

The results showed that Childhood abuse experiences have a direct relationship with psychological security (β=-0.15, P=0.019) and an indirect effect on psychological security due to loneliness (β=-0.44, P=0.002).In addition, the feeling of loneliness had a direct effect on psychological security (β=0.79, P=0.001).

According to the results of childhood abuse experiences, they play a big role in feeling lonely, and because feeling lonely can be the source of many psychological problems of people; therefore, providing a suitable environment from childhood can greatly help to increase psychological security.