Article
Childhood loneliness as a predictor of
adolescent depressive symptoms: an 8-
year longitudinal study
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Qualter, Pamela, Brown, Stephen L., Munn, Penny and Rotenberg, Ken J.
(2010) Childhood loneliness as a predictor of adolescent depressive
symptoms: an 8-year longitudinal study. European Child & Adolescent
Psychiatry, 19 (6). pp. 493-501. ISSN 1018-8827
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Childhood loneliness as a predictor of adolescent depressive symptoms: An 8 year longitudinal
study
ARTICLE
Other: Qualter, P., Brown, S.L., Munn, P., & Rotenberg, K. (2010). Childhood loneliness as a
predictor of depression: An 8 year longitudinal study. European Journal of Child and
Adolescent Psychiatry, 19, 493-501. Print ISSN: 1018-8827; Online ISSN: 1435-165X;
doi:10.1007/s00787-009-0059-y Available at:
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00787-009-0059-y?LI=true
It is advisable to refer to the publisher’s version if you intend to cite from the work. To link to
this article http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00787-009-0059-y?LI=true
Footnotes:
1
We use criteria of a comparative fit index (CFI) above .95, and the root mean square error of
approximation (RMSEA) less than .10 to indicate adequate model fit as suggested elsewhere [62].
2
One potential issue in studies of this nature is that an atypical group of high scorers on both
loneliness and depression variables may drive the findings of the analysis. This is a particular issue
with the interaction variable, which emphasises the effect of consistently high loneliness scores. To
investigate whether a very small number of children were lonely at both time points, but were also
very depressed at Time 3, we observed the scattergrams comparing T1 loneliness, T2 loneliness, the
interaction term, and the predicted values obtained from a multivariate predictive equation composed
of these variables, with T3 depression scores. We found no evidence of correlations being overly
influenced by high scorers.
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Abstract: Childhood loneliness is characterised by children’s perceived dissatisfaction with aspects
of their social relationships. This eight year prospective study investigates whether loneliness in
childhood predicts depressive symptoms in adolescence, controlling for early childhood indicators of
emotional problems and a sociometric measure of peer social preference. 296 children were tested
in the infant years of primary school (T1: 5 years of age), in the upper primary school (T2: 9 years of
age) and in secondary school (T3: 13 years of age). At T1, children completed the loneliness
assessment and sociometric interview. Their teachers completed externalization and internalization
rating scales for each child. At T2, children completed a loneliness assessment, a measure of
depressive symptoms, and the sociometric interview. At T3, children completed the depressive
symptom assessment. An SEM analysis showed that depressive symptoms in early adolescence (age
13) were predicted by reports of depressive symptoms at age 8, which were themselves predicted by
internalization in the infant school (5 years). The interactive effect of loneliness at 5 and 9, indicative
of prolonged loneliness in childhood, also predicted depressive symptoms at age 13. Parent and
peer-related loneliness at age 5 and 9, peer acceptance variables, and duration of parent loneliness
did not predict depression. Our results suggest that enduring peer-related loneliness during
childhood constitutes an interpersonal stressor that predisposes children to adolescent depressive
symptoms. Possible mediators are discussed.
Keywords: loneliness; depression; depressive symptoms; longitudinal study; adolescence; transient
loneliness; enduring loneliness; chronic loneliness; stability of loneliness; children.
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Introduction
Adolescent clinical depression has a prevalence rate of between 4% and 8.3% [4] and is a risk factor
for adult depression [21, 23]. Sub-clinical depression in adolescents may also constitute a risk
factor, as adolescents with sub-threshold levels of depression are no different from adolescents
diagnosed with depression in terms of their level of adult depression and suicidal ideation [20].
Interpersonal sources of stress influence vulnerability towards adolescent depression. For example,
relationship issues such as poor peer and family relationship quality, difficulty being close to peers
and difficulty trusting peers predict depressive symptoms over 6 months [19]. Other interpersonal
risk factors are perceived lack of peer and family support [34], and perceived negative daily
interpersonal experiences or hassles [61].
Peer Acceptance/Rejection, Childhood Loneliness, and Adolescent Depression
Several researchers [5, 48] suggest that interpersonal stress can be a consequence of negative peer
experiences (peer rejection) during childhood. Peer acceptance/rejection reflects the collective
liking/disliking a group has towards an individual member [9, 40]. Low peer acceptance has
consistently been linked to later depressive systems in longitudinal studies [5, 6, 18, 39, 50, 53].
Nevertheless, not all children who experience social rejection show these symptoms, with only 2-5%
of them meeting diagnostic criteria for depression [46].
Research emphasising the primacy of children’s perceptions of social rejection [50] shows that
actual rejection over time does not predict increased depression, but perceived rejection does [35].
Indeed, the discrepancy between actual and desired social networks appears to better predict later
depressive symptoms than peer rejection [46, 53].
It seems, then, that a child’s perception of whether they have poor social relationships, rather than
objective measures of social networks, is important in determining depressive symptoms. Thus, it
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seems likely that loneliness, which is viewed as developing when a discrepancy exists between the
interpersonal relationships one wishes to have, and those that one perceives they currently have [52]
has a role to play in predicting depression.
Loneliness is unpleasant, is not synonymous with social isolation or rejection, and is the result of
perceived quantitative or qualitative deficiencies in one’s social relations [52]. Empirical research
shows concurrent links between loneliness and depression in both adult [12, 24, 49] and adolescent
samples [37, 41]. Also, prospective investigations amongst older adults (54 yrs+) have found that
loneliness predicts subsequent depressive symptoms up to 10 years after initial testing [10, 26, 31].
Thus, it seems reasonable to speculate that childhood loneliness predisposes individuals to
depressive symptoms during adolescence.
Both peers and parents are vital sources of social support during childhood and adolescence, and
researchers have argued that it is important to examine the influence of both peer- and parent-related
loneliness in relation to depressed mood [8]. In cross-sectional work conducted with adolescents,
peer related loneliness is more predictive of depressive symptoms than parent related loneliness [41],
possibly as peers are the preferred source of support throughout childhood and adolescence [63].
The transience of loneliness is another important consideration. Loneliness can be a transient and/or
situational response to experiences such as loss, rejection, or other social disappointments. In itself,
this is not pathological [33, 65]. However, adults who experience loneliness for 2 or more
consecutive years display a greater number of behavioural and cognitive deficits related to social
skills and interpersonal relations than those whose loneliness is transient [65, 36]. In addition,
children whose lonely feelings increased over a one-year period scored low on peer acceptance and
friendship at time 2 and became more self-blaming in their attributions [57].
