Liang Zhiya, Wen Wanyi, Guan Liwen, Zhang Xuanzhi, Zou Lijing, Gu Qianfei, Liu Jiayu, Yu Xinle, Wu Kusheng, Huang Yanhong
School of Public Health, Shantou University, Shantou, Guangdong, China; Department of Preventive Medicine, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, Guangdong, China.
School of Public Health, Shantou University, Shantou, Guangdong, China; Mental Health Center of Shantou University, Shantou, Guangdong, China.
J Affect Disord. 2025 Feb 15;371:72-81. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2024.11.048. Epub 2024 Nov 16.
Children's loneliness has become an increasingly pervasive issue of public health due to the vulnerability of school-aged children. This study aims to identify latent classes of school-age children based on their exhibited symptoms of loneliness and explore the influencing factors.
A cross-sectional study was conducted from March to June 2023 in Shantou, China. Demographic characteristics, Abbreviated Symptom Questionnaire (ASQ), Children's Loneliness Scale (CLS), Perceived social support Scale (PSSS), and Children's Hope Scale (CHS) were collected by questionnaires. Latent class analysis (LCA) was performed based on loneliness symptoms among school-age children, with class characteristics and influencing factors explored through chi-square tests, analysis of variance, lasso regression, and multinomial logistic regression analyses.
A total of 2514 school-age children were enrolled. Four diverse latent classes were identified, namely, the low loneliness group, the borderline loneliness group, the moderate loneliness group, and the high loneliness group, with 37.0 %, 40.4 %, 10.3 % and 12.3 % in each class, respectively. Compared with the low loneliness group, the factors influencing loneliness symptoms in other groups were grade, academic performance, father's education level, experience of being bullied, experience of being physical attacked, homework help from parents, one-child status, number of friends, relationship with friends, feeling respect from parents, perceived social support, as well as hope (all P < 0.05).
The study's cross-sectional design, limited sample and area, and self-reporting method may affect the findings' reliability and generalizability.
LCA can categorize different school-age children according to their loneliness symptoms, offering a new perspective of addressing loneliness issues.
由于学龄儿童的脆弱性，儿童孤独感已成为一个日益普遍的公共卫生问题。本研究旨在根据学龄儿童表现出的孤独症状识别潜在类别，并探讨影响因素。
2023年3月至6月在中国汕头进行了一项横断面研究。通过问卷调查收集人口统计学特征、简明症状问卷（ASQ）、儿童孤独量表（CLS）、感知社会支持量表（PSSS）和儿童希望量表（CHS）。基于学龄儿童的孤独症状进行潜在类别分析（LCA），通过卡方检验、方差分析、套索回归和多项逻辑回归分析探讨类别特征和影响因素。
共纳入2514名学龄儿童。识别出四个不同的潜在类别，即低孤独感组、边缘孤独感组、中度孤独感组和高孤独感组，每组分别占37.0%、40.4%、10.3%和12.3%。与低孤独感组相比，其他组中影响孤独症状的因素包括年级、学业成绩、父亲教育水平、受欺负经历、身体攻击经历、父母的作业帮助、独生子女身份、朋友数量、与朋友的关系、感受到父母的尊重、感知社会支持以及希望（所有P<0.05）。
该研究的横断面设计、样本和地区有限以及自我报告方法可能会影响研究结果的可靠性和普遍性。
LCA可以根据学龄儿童的孤独症状对其进行分类，为解决孤独问题提供了新的视角。
