Loneliness and social adaptation in Brazilian, Canadian, Chinese and Italian children: a multi-national comparative study.

Background: Research on children's loneliness has been conducted mostly in Western, especially North American, cultures. The purpose of the study was to examine relations between loneliness and social adaptation among children and adolescents in four different societies.

Methods: A total of 2263 children from grade 3 to grade 6, aged 9 to 12 years, in Brazil, Canada, P.