Towards an understanding of loneliness in school-aged adolescents in rural Colombia, state of the art
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.61454/veeb3t71Keywords:
Loneliness, adolescence, schooling, social connection, ruralityAbstract
Given the importance that understanding and analyzing the phenomenon of loneliness has gained around the world today, this article aims to provide those interested in educational research with a theoretical overview of the object of study and a perspective situated at the very heart of the school. As a teacher, in reviewing the state of the art, I have found that most research on loneliness focuses on older adults and highly urbanized areas, mainly in countries of the Global North. Additionally, such studies tend to be oriented toward quantifying and measuring variables from positivist and psychometric approaches. This highlights the importance of developing research proposals with qualitative approaches in school environments—distinctive characteristics of the ongoing research from which this state-of-the-art article is derived. This research is being carried out with adolescents enrolled in rural educational institutions in Colombia, within the framework of the doctoral program in Education at the University of Technology and Education. Finally, through this article, I intend to offer a current overview of the object of study and present the main research trends that today represent the frontier of knowledge regarding unwanted loneliness. These trends are analyzed from the theoretical framework developed in the research, from which an integrationist proposal with a comprehensive and multidimensional approach emerges—recommended for future qualitative studies in school contexts within Latin American rural settings.
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