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Joint trajectories of loneliness, depressive symptoms, and social anxiety from middle childhood to early adolescence: associations with suicidal ideation

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Abstract

This study examined the joint trajectories of loneliness, depressive symptoms, and social anxiety from middle childhood to early adolescence and their associations with suicidal ideation. A total of 643 Chinese elementary school students (55.2% male; Mage = 9.01; SD = 0.75; range = 7 to 11 years at T1) completed measures on six occasions at 6-month intervals. Parallel process latent class growth models revealed five distinct trajectories of loneliness, depressive symptoms, and social anxiety: “congruent-low” (45.1%), “moderately low with predominant loneliness and depressive symptoms” (15.7%), “moderate with predominant loneliness and depressive symptoms” (4.2%), “moderately low with predominant social anxiety” (24.9%), and “congruent-high” (10.1%). The highest suicidal ideation was observed among adolescents who persistently experienced two or three symptoms, followed by those who persistently experienced one predominant symptom, and finally, adolescents who persistently experienced low levels of all three symptoms. The findings highlight the importance of individual differences considerations in understanding the joint patterns of loneliness, depressive symptoms, and social anxiety among youth during the transition into adolescence and the need for more sophisticated intervention programs tailored to the unique characteristics of the relevant trajectories to reduce the risk of suicidal ideation.

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Notes

  1. Collectivistic cultures can be defined by an emphasis on group interdependence, harmony in interpersonal relations, and conformity to group norms [59]. China has been identified as a collectivistic country [60].

  2. Guanxi orientation, as the unique concept related to the Chinese context, is characterized by the observation that Chinese people attach great importance to maintaining harmonious relationship with others [52, 61]. In this sense, the guanxi orientation could reflect an important feature of a collectivistic culture.

  3. Individualistic cultures are oriented around the self, emphasizing the values of independence and personal goals over interdependence and group interests [62].

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31971005), Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (No. 2021A1515012515), and Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (No. 2022A1515011233).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Philosophy and Social Science Laboratory of Reading and Development in Children and Adolescents (South China Normal University), Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, 510631, People’s Republic of China

    Yiting Liang & Lili Tian

  2. School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, People’s Republic of China

    Yiting Liang

  3. Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, 29208, USA

    E. Scott Huebner

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  1. Yiting Liang
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Correspondence to Lili Tian.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee (School of Psychology Research Ethics Committee, South China Normal University) and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Liang, Y., Huebner, E.S. & Tian, L. Joint trajectories of loneliness, depressive symptoms, and social anxiety from middle childhood to early adolescence: associations with suicidal ideation. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 32, 1733–1744 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-022-01993-w

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