The Longitudinal Interplay Between Loneliness and Depressive Symptoms During Late Childhood: Cross-Lagged Panel Network Analyses

BACKGROUND: Loneliness and depression are interrelated constructs that significantly impact adolescents' mental health. Understanding their interplay, particularly at the symptom level, is critical for developing effective interventions. OBJECTIVE: To examine longitudinal relationships between loneliness and depressive symptoms during late childhood, aiming to identify symptom-level interactions and directional effects. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: = 0.73; 50.8% girls) from the NLSY79 Children and Young Adults survey participated, with data collected over two years. METHODS: A cross-lagged panel network (CLPN) model was employed to analyze symptom-level associations between loneliness and depressive symptoms. This approach combines network analysis and cross-lagged panel modeling, allowing for the estimation of both autoregressive effects (stability of symptoms over time) and cross-lagged effects (directional relationships between symptoms across time points). RESULTS: The longitudinal network suggests the following: (1) a reciprocal link between loneliness and both sadness and parental pressure; (2) a forward effect of loneliness on anxiety and being busy; (3) the loneliness-reducing effect of prior happiness and loneliness-increasing effect of boredom. CONCLUSIONS: The findings highlight the complex interplay between loneliness and depressive symptoms, emphasizing reciprocal and unidirectional effects at the symptom level. These insights underscore the need for targeted, symptom-focused interventions to address loneliness and its impact on adolescent mental health.