The need to belong, perceived social support, and loneliness in Filipino college students

• Main Author: Enrile-Inton, Ana Mariel A.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2022
• Subjects: Belonging (Social psychology); Loneliness; College students > Philippines; Clinical Psychology
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/5988; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/context/etd_masteral/article/13099/viewcontent/Enrile_Inton_AnaMariel_11571373_Partial.pdf
• Institution: De La Salle University

This research was guided by the Need to Belong theory which states that all individuals have a need for belongingness and are motivated to form relationships that are lasting, positive, and significant. While all possess this need, the difference lies in the strength of the desire for belonging where some need only a few relationships to satisfy them whereas others require more. This quantitative study proposed that perceived social support buffers the effect of the Need to Belong on loneliness in Filipino college students (N=129) given that social support has been identified to produce positive outcomes. This study hypothesized that higher perceived social support weakened the impact of need to belong such that a high need to belong will not yield high loneliness with higher perceived social support. Multiple regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses of the study. Results showed that perceived social support does not significantly buffer the relationship between the two and therefore does not moderate the relationship although there is a significant path with the specific dimension of family support.