Abstract:

The purpose of the present study was to examine the attitude toward aloneness and the aftereffect of aloneness during middle and late childhood. Participants were 833 fourth- and sixth-grade students from primary schools in Athens, Greece. They completed two questions from the London Sentence Completion Test (Coleman, 1974) and they responded to a question about the aftereffect of aloneness (Larson, 1999). Results showed the importance of solitary play, daydreaming and self-reflection, and independence and privacy, and a rather ambivalent attitude toward aloneness. Boys have a more positive attitude toward aloneness than girls; the same applies to fourth graders. Results are discussed in light of the significance of time alone and its uses during childhood.

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