Psychological maltreatment and loneliness in Chinese children: The role of perceived social support and self-esteem

Abstract

Psychological maltreatment is quite common and related to a wide range of social, emotional, and behavioral problems and positively predicates children's loneliness, so it is necessary to explore the factors affecting children's loneliness and the mechanisms underlying this relationship. Therefore, the purpose of present study is to examine the mediation of perceived social support and self-esteem on the relationship between psychological maltreatment and loneliness. A total of 1302 Chinese children (aged 9–13, mean age 11.31 ± 0.97) were involved in this study. Participants completed the self-report measures in 30 min. Results showed that psychological maltreatment could increase the risk for children’s loneliness, and structural equation modelling revealed that the association between psychological maltreatment and loneliness was partially mediated by two indirect paths, the one was from psychological maltreatment to loneliness through perceived social support, and the other one was from psychological maltreatment through perceived social support and self-esteem to loneliness. The findings of this study support the importance of perceived social support and self-esteem on children’s loneliness, help to explain the association between psychological maltreatment and loneliness, and provide new perspectives regarding the prevention of loneliness.