Self-esteem mediated relations between loneliness and social anxiety in Chinese adolescents with left-behind experience

Although research examining loneliness and social anxiety has been conducted, few studies have explored pathways from loneliness at home to social anxiety at school in Chinese left-behind children. The study attempts to explore associations between loneliness at home and social anxiety at school and to examine roles of self-esteem in those relationships among a sample of Chinese left-behind children. Date were collected from 303 left-behind children, aged 10–14 years, and the Chinese versions of Children’s Loneliness Scale, Social Anxiety Scale, and Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale were used to measure loneliness at home, social anxiety at school, and self-esteem, respectively. Results showed that loneliness at home was positively associated with social anxiety at school; self-esteem played a partial mediation role in associations between loneliness at home and social anxiety at school. Findings suggest that high levels of self-esteem may influence pathways from loneliness at home to social anxiety at school in Chinese left-behind children, and increasing levels of self-esteem may be used in preventions for loneliness of Chinese left-behind children.