International Journal of

ADVANCED AND APPLIED SCIENCES

EISSN: 2313-3724, Print ISSN: 2313-626X

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 Volume 8, Issue 11 (November 2021), Pages: 10-21

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 Original Research Paper

 Title: Feeling of loneliness and its correlation to self-esteem in children with Asperger’s disorder in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

 Author(s): Sultan Mousa Al-Owidha 1, *, Nevien Mohammed Zahran 2

 Affiliation(s):

 1Psychology Department, College of Education, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
 2Prince Naif Arab University for Security Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

  Full Text - PDF          XML

 * Corresponding Author. 

  Corresponding author's ORCID profile: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5709-3514

 Digital Object Identifier: 

 https://doi.org/10.21833/ijaas.2021.11.002

 Abstract:

Asperger's Disorder (AS) and feeling of loneliness (FOL) are related to low self-esteem (SE) in children as many autistic children do not participate in society. However, there was a need to further explore the correlation between the feeling of loneliness (FOL) and self-esteem in children with AS in the Saudi context. This study aimed at investigating the type of correlation between FOL and SE in the sample of children with AS and typically developing children from primary school pupils in Riyadh. It drew a comparison between the study sample individuals regarding psychological loneliness as well as SE according to the sex variable (male/female) and developmental disorder variable (children with AS and typically developing children). It further discussed the prevalence of psychological loneliness, low self-esteem, and negative social perception in individuals with an autism spectrum disorder. It adopted the descriptive approach (correlative/comparative). The data were statistically analyzed using Pearson's correlation coefficient, two-direction variance analysis (2x2), and T-Test. This is a pioneering study in terms of emphasizing the importance of early detection and intervention to identify children with AS and taking precautionary measures and treatment in the Saudi context. The findings indicated that FOL is negatively correlated to SE in children with AS and typically developing children of both sexes. This result is consistent with the findings of the previous studies. It was also found that male children with AS demonstrated more FOL and less SE than female children with AS. The study also provided some educational recommendations and proposed further research in this area. It also recommended developing training programs and courses for parents to optimally deal with the mentally retarded child. 

 © 2021 The Authors. Published by IASE.

 This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

 Keywords: Asperger’s disorder, Feeling of loneliness, Saudi Arabia, Self-esteem

 Article History: Received 11 June 2021, Received in revised form 25 August 2021, Accepted 26 August 2021

 Acknowledgment 

This Project was funded by the National Plan for Science, Technology and Innovation (MAARIFAH), King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Award Number (5-18-03-001-0009).

 Compliance with ethical standards

 Conflict of interest: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

 Citation:

 Al-Owidha SM and Zahran NM (2021). Feeling of loneliness and its correlation to self-esteem in children with Asperger’s disorder in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. International Journal of Advanced and Applied Sciences, 8(11): 10-21

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