Zhou Yutao, Fan Chengwen, Zhang Shuge
College of Physical Education, Hunan University of Technology, Zhuzhou, China.
Centre for Sport and Psycho-Social-Behavioural Research, Zhuzhou, China.
BMC Psychol. 2025 Apr 2;13(1):327. doi: 10.1186/s40359-025-02635-x.
Loneliness can cause severe mental and physical health problems and is of particular concern among vulnerable groups such as left-behind children. Research has suggested important person-level characteristics and attributes, such as self-esteem and self-efficacy, to be protective factors of loneliness in children. However, existing research is limited in the use of a cross-sectional design and the lack of consideration of the self-esteem × self-efficacy interaction on loneliness, as well as the potential divergent effects of domain-specific (e.g., general vs. academic) self-efficacy in loneliness.
We used a longitudinal design to examine the moderation role of general vs. academic self-efficacy in the influence of self-esteem on left-behind children's loneliness. In a sample of 405 left-behind children (M = 10.51, SD = 1.36; 49.6% girls), we assessed their self-esteem, general self-efficacy, academic self-efficacy and loneliness at baseline, with follow-up measure implemented to assess changes in loneliness in one year time. Longitudinal path analysis was conducted for hypothesis testing.
Academic self-efficacy was a more proximal predictor of loneliness at baseline and its change over time. Importantly, self-esteem predicted lowered loneliness and a more significant reduction over one year only when academic (not general) self-efficacy was high.
A profile of high self-esteem and low academic self-efficacy appeared to be the most at-risk for loneliness in left-behind children. The findings should inform future research and policy/intervention efforts regarding strategies for addressing loneliness in left-behind children by enhancing their academic self-efficacy and closing the esteem-efficacy discrepancy.
孤独会导致严重的身心健康问题，在留守儿童等弱势群体中尤其令人担忧。研究表明，自尊和自我效能等重要的个人层面特征和属性是儿童孤独感的保护因素。然而，现有研究在使用横断面设计方面存在局限性，且缺乏对自尊×自我效能对孤独感的交互作用的考虑，以及特定领域（如一般与学业）自我效能在孤独感方面潜在的不同影响。
我们采用纵向设计来检验一般自我效能与学业自我效能在自尊对留守儿童孤独感影响中的调节作用。在405名留守儿童样本（M = 10.51，SD = 1.36；49.6%为女孩）中，我们在基线时评估了他们的自尊、一般自我效能、学业自我效能和孤独感，并在一年后进行随访测量以评估孤独感的变化。进行纵向路径分析以进行假设检验。
学业自我效能是基线时孤独感及其随时间变化的更直接预测因素。重要的是，只有当学业（而非一般）自我效能较高时，自尊才会预测孤独感降低且在一年中更显著地减少。
自尊高而学业自我效能低的情况似乎是留守儿童孤独感风险最高的特征。这些发现应为未来关于通过提高留守儿童的学业自我效能和缩小自尊 - 效能差距来解决孤独感的研究及政策/干预措施提供参考。
