Emotional problems mediate the effects of prosocial behaviour, school safety, and Internet addiction on adolescent loneliness: an exploratory study.

Résumé

Loneliness in adolescence is a significant risk factor for mental health disorders, yet its psychosocial determinants remain incompletely understood. With a cross-sectional design, this exploratory study recruited 773 research subjects aged 13-16 in a structural equation modelling (SEM) analysis to examine the association between prosocial behaviour, perceived school safety, and Internet addiction on adolescent loneliness, with emotional problems as a mediator. Variables were assessed using validated psychometric instruments. SEM demonstrated good fit (χ (314) = 907.52, p < .001. Root Mean Square Error of Approximation = 0.049, Normed Fit Index = 0.96, Comparative Fit Index = 0.97, Incremental Fit Index (IFI) = 0.97, Non-Normed Fit Index = 0.96, Standardized Root Mean Square Residual = 0.044, Goodness-of-Fit Index = 0.92, Adjusted Goodness-of-Fit Index = 0.90), indicating that emotional problems were a significant mediator. Prosocial behaviour (β = 0.38, p < .001), internet addiction (β = 0.11, p < .01), and perceive school safety (β = 0.35, p < .001) were positively associated with emotional problems, which in turn strongly predicted loneliness (β = 0.48, p < .001). The structural model accounted for 47% of the variance in adolescents' loneliness (R = 0.47). These findings highlight emotional problems as a key mechanism associated with adolescent loneliness, particularly within social and digital contexts. Interventions targeting emotional regulation and healthy digital behaviour may help reduce loneliness and its associated risks.