Department of Psychology, School of Education Science, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, Hunan, China.
Cognition and Human Behavior Key Laboratory of Hunan Province, School of Educational Science, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, China.
J Adolesc. 2024 Jul;96(5):969-982. doi: 10.1002/jad.12309. Epub 2024 Feb 20.
Left-behind children are a special group that needs urgent attention. Due to enduring separation from their parents, loneliness is considered the most common and prevalent developmental hurdle in the experiences of left-behind children. This longitudinal cross-lagged study examined the direction of the association between loneliness and both internalizing and externalizing symptoms, with considering gender and left-behind status differences.
A total of 1175 rural Chinese children (48.3% boys, 39.9% left-behind children, M = 14.54 ± 1.18 at baseline) completed self-reported loneliness, social anxiety, and mobile phone addiction at two-time points with 6 months intervals. Descriptive statistics, cross-lagged panel analysis, and multiple group analysis were estimated in the present study.
Loneliness exacerbated social anxiety and mobile phone addiction, and vice versa. In addition, gender and left-behind status moderated these relationships, with boys more likely to be mobile phone addicted due to loneliness and girls more likely to be lonely due to mobile phone addiction. More importantly, left-behind children with loneliness are more prone to social anxiety and mobile phone addiction, and vice versa, compared with non-left-behind children.
The targeted interventions should be carried out for different genders and left-behind statuses. Particularly for left-behind children, neglecting to address both the symptoms of loneliness and both social anxiety and mobile phone addiction could significantly undermine the efficacy of intervention programs that solely target either one of these afflictions.
留守儿童是一个需要紧急关注的特殊群体。由于长期与父母分离，孤独感被认为是留守儿童经历中最常见和普遍的发展障碍。本纵向交叉滞后研究考察了孤独感与内化和外化症状之间的关联方向，同时考虑了性别和留守状态的差异。
共有 1175 名农村中国儿童（48.3%为男孩，39.9%为留守儿童，基线时的平均年龄为 14.54±1.18）在两次时间点上完成了自我报告的孤独感、社交焦虑和手机成瘾，两次时间点间隔 6 个月。本研究估计了描述性统计、交叉滞后面板分析和多组分析。
孤独感加剧了社交焦虑和手机成瘾，反之亦然。此外，性别和留守状态调节了这些关系，男孩更容易因孤独感而沉迷于手机，而女孩更容易因手机成瘾而感到孤独。更重要的是，与非留守儿童相比，有孤独感的留守儿童更容易出现社交焦虑和手机成瘾，反之亦然。
应针对不同性别和留守状态开展有针对性的干预措施。特别是对于留守儿童，忽视解决孤独感以及社交焦虑和手机成瘾的症状，可能会显著降低仅针对这些问题之一的干预计划的效果。
