Center for Biobehavioral Health, Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, OH, United States of America.
Vanderbilt School of Nursing, Vanderbilt University, South Nashville, TN, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2024 Aug 15;19(8):e0308091. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0308091. eCollection 2024.
Social contexts (e.g., family, friends) are important in predicting and preventing loneliness in middle childhood (MC) and adolescence; however, these social contexts were disrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Comparison of social context factors that may differentially contribute to loneliness at each developmental stage (MC vs. adolescence) during the COVID-19 pandemic have been overlooked. This study examined longitudinal predictors of loneliness, including social contexts and COVID-19 impact, within MC (8-12y) and adolescence (13-17y). Parents reported on demographic information, and their children completed surveys on COVID-19 impact, loneliness, and family functioning using the COVID-19 Exposure and Family Impact Survey (CEFIS), the NIH Toolbox Loneliness (Ages 8-17) measure, and the PROMIS Family Relationships Short Form 4a measure, respectively. Regression models examined time one (T1; May-June 2020) predictors of time two (T2; November 2020-January 2021) MC child (n=92, Mage=10.03) and adolescent (n=56, Mage=14.66) loneliness. For the MC child model, significant predictors of higher loneliness included worse family functioning as well as higher COVID-19 impact and lower family income. On the other hand, higher adolescent loneliness was significantly predicted by not having married/partnered parents and was marginally significantly predicted by higher COVID-19 impact. The regression model with the full sample and interaction terms revealed no significant interactions, but that lower family functioning and higher COVID-19 impact were significant predictors of higher loneliness. Lower family income and lower in-person communication were marginally significant predictors of higher loneliness in the combined interaction model. Lastly, further exploratory mediation analyses displayed that family functioning significantly mediated the relationship between COVID-19 impact and T2 loneliness only for MC children and the full sample. Results support future interventions focused on optimizing family functioning to help mitigate MC loneliness in the context of adversity, such as a global pandemic.
社会环境（例如家庭、朋友）在预测和预防儿童中期（MC）和青少年孤独感方面很重要；然而，在 COVID-19 大流行期间，这些社会环境被打乱了。在 COVID-19 大流行期间，比较可能导致每个发展阶段（MC 与青春期）孤独感差异的社会环境因素尚未得到关注。本研究考察了孤独感的纵向预测因素，包括社会环境和 COVID-19 影响，在 MC（8-12 岁）和青春期（13-17 岁）。父母报告了人口统计学信息，他们的孩子使用 COVID-19 暴露和家庭影响调查（CEFIS）、NIH 工具包孤独感（8-17 岁）测量、PROMIS 家庭关系简短形式 4a 测量分别完成了关于 COVID-19 影响、孤独感和家庭功能的调查。回归模型考察了时间一（T1；2020 年 5 月至 6 月）对时间二（T2；2020 年 11 月至 2021 年 1 月）MC 儿童（n=92，Mage=10.03）和青少年（n=56，Mage=14.66）孤独感的预测。对于 MC 儿童模型，孤独感较高的显著预测因素包括家庭功能较差、COVID-19 影响较高和家庭收入较低。另一方面，青少年孤独感较高的显著预测因素是父母未结婚/未结婚，而 COVID-19 影响较高则是显著预测因素。具有完整样本和交互项的回归模型没有发现显著的交互作用，但家庭功能较低和 COVID-19 影响较高是孤独感较高的显著预测因素。在综合交互模型中，家庭收入较低和面对面交流较少是孤独感较高的边缘显著预测因素。最后，进一步的探索性中介分析显示，仅对于 MC 儿童和全样本，家庭功能在 COVID-19 影响与 T2 孤独感之间的关系中具有显著的中介作用。结果支持未来的干预措施，重点是优化家庭功能，以帮助减轻全球大流行等逆境中的 MC 孤独感。
