Facets of Loneliness and Depression Among Chinese Children and Adolescents
Abstract
The authors examined the relation among different facets of loneliness and depression in a sample of 6,356 Chinese children and adolescents from Grades 4-9. Loneliness and depression were closely related among the primary (Grades 4-6) and secondary (Grades 7-9) students, both boys and girls. Although the different facets of loneliness were predictive of the various facets of depression, peer-related loneliness and aloneness were more predictive of depression in both groups than was parent-related loneliness. The students in Grades 5 and 6 scored lower for loneliness but a little higher for depression than did the students in Grade 4. The students in Grades 8 and 9 scored higher than the students in Grade 7 for loneliness and depression. The primary boys scored higher than the primary girls for both loneliness and depression. Among the secondary students, there was no difference between the scores of the boys and those of the girls for loneliness, but the boys scored lower than the girls for depression.
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The associations between loneliness/social isolation and depressive symptoms were stronger in older participants and in female participants.
“The associations were stronger in older participants35 and in female participants.47”
From Rapid Systematic Review: The Impact of Social Isolation and Loneliness on the Mental Health of Children and Adolescents in the Context of COVID-19 (2020) · cites this paper as [35]
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- Authors
- Lau, S., Chan, D. W. K., & Lau, P. S. Y.
- Affiliations
- Hong Kong Baptist University (HK)
- Chinese University of Hong Kong (HK)
- ORCID
- Lau, Sing
- Venue
- The Journal of Social Psychology
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 1999-12
- Volume
- 139
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 713-729
- ISSN
- 0022-4545 (ISSN-L)
- 1940-1183
- OpenAlex
- W1968458598
- Cited by
- 74
- References
- 20
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 0.45
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The Journal of Social Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Psychosocial Factors Impacting Youth
- Keywords
- loneliness, depression, aloneness, children, adolescents, gender differences, age differences, Chinese students
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Child, China, Depression, Female, Humans, Loneliness, Male, Pilot Projects, Students, Age Distribution, Sex Distribution
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