AUTHOR=Hou Tianya , Xie Yawei , Mao Xiaofei , Liu Ying , Zhang Jianguo , Wen Jing , Chen Yan , Luo Zhechao , Cai Wenpeng
TITLE=The Mediating Role of Loneliness Between Social Support and Depressive Symptoms Among Chinese Rural Adolescents During COVID-19 Outbreak: A Comparative Study Between Left-Behind and Non-left-behind Students
JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychiatry
VOLUME=12
YEAR=2021
URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.740094
DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2021.740094
ISSN=1664-0640
ABSTRACT=Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly impacted people's life across the globe. In a public health crisis, rural adolescents are more prone to mental health problems. The current study aimed to investigate the prevalence of depressive symptoms among Chinese rural adolescents during the COVID-19 outbreak, and examine the association between perceived social support and depressive symptoms and its underlying mechanisms.
Method: Perceived Social Support Scale, UCLA Loneliness Scale, Patient Health Questionnaire-9 were administrated to 826 rural adolescents from Anhui Province, China, amid the COVID-19 crisis. Mackinnon's four-step procedure was employed to examine the mediating effect, while Hayes PROCESS macro was utilized to test the moderated mediation model.
Results: The results showed the rate of depressive symptoms among rural adolescents in China was 77.6% during the outbreak of COVID-19. Female left-behind students and non-left-behind students from disrupted families experienced more depressive symptoms (all P < 0.05). Loneliness mediated the association between perceive social support and depressive symptoms and the indirect effect was stronger in left-behind adolescents in comparison to non-left-behind adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Conclusion: Depressive symptoms are extremely prevalent among Chinese rural adolescents during the COVID-19 outbreak, and perceived social support plays a protective role against depressive symptoms. Chinese rural adolescents, especially left-behind students, could benefit from the interventions aimed at enhancing the perceived social support and reducing loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic.