Cumulative Ecological Risk And Adolescents’ Loneliness: The Compensatory Effect And Protective Effect Of Individual Protective Factors And Intervention

Loneliness has become a common psychological phenomenon among young people.Adolescents are particularly affected by loneliness.Both domestic and international studies have shown that loneliness can adversely affect an individual’s physical and mental health,leading to more problematic behaviors and suicidal ideation.Therefore,there is an urgent need to explore the risk factors for adolescent loneliness to empirically support intervention and prevention efforts for loneliness.By reviewing through previous studies,this study found that the existing research in the area of the relationship between cumulative ecological risk and loneliness still has the following limitations:(1)most previous studies have focused on one or a few risk factors,and fewer studies have examined the predictive role of multiple ecosystem risks in an integrated manner,(2)When exploring the variable of loneliness,previous researchers have tended to consider loneliness as a predictor factor of depression,well-being,and problem behavior,and have mainly focused on the negative effects of loneliness on adolescents and studies on the correlates of environment and personality on loneliness,(3)Most previous researchers have considered the protective effects of a single protective factor,and fewer studies have explored the mode of action of multiple protective factors(e.g.,stress mindset,self-esteem,hope)and their cumulative effects simultaneously,(4)Previous studies on loneliness interventions have mostly been psychotherapeutic interventions,and few of them have targeted adolescents.In summary,this study aimed to investigate the relationship between cumulative ecological risk and adolescent loneliness,and the role of individual protective factors in it and interventions.Study 1 used 947 adolescents in Sichuan and Jiangxi provinces as study subjects to conduct a questionnaire survey to investigate the predictive role of cumulative ecological risk on adolescent loneliness and the role and cumulative effect of individual protective factors in it.Data analysis was conducted using SPSS 26.0 to test the hypotheses of this study.The results of the study revealed the adverse effects of multiple ecological risks on adolescent loneliness,with family(F=10.56,p<0.001,R~2=0.08),peer(F=25.31,p<0.001,R~2=0.23),and school(F=22.75,p<0.001,R~2=0.24)ecological risks having a significant positive predictive effect on loneliness,where peer support(β=0.31,p<0.001),peer aggression(β=0.21,p<0.001),and family functioning(β=0.18,p<0.001)were the strongest predictors of adolescent loneliness.In Study 2,60 adolescent subjects with low loneliness scores were screened based on Study 1and divided into middle school(30)and high school groups(30)according to their school level,and then randomly assigned to 15 subjects each in the control and experimental groups.The results showed that there was a significant difference in the level of stress mindset between the middle school group(t=–4.37,p<0.01)and the high school group(t=–4.18,p<0.01)before and after the experimental group,and there was also a significant difference in the level of loneliness between the middle school group(t=2.78,p<0.05)and the high school group(t=4.50,p<0.05)before and after the experimental group.The experimental group in the middle school group(t=6.03,p<0.001)and high school group(t=3.51,p<0.01)had significantly higher levels of stressful mindset than the control group,and the experimental group in the middle school group(t=–2.38,p<0.05)and high school group(t=–5.93,p<0.001)had significantly lower levels of loneliness than the control group.This indicates that this group counseling was effective to some extent.Analysis of cumulative ecological risk on loneliness revealed that the higher the number of adolescents experiencing environmental risk factors and risky environmental contexts,the higher their levels of loneliness.Based on this,the present study found that individual protective factors such as stressful mindset,self-esteem,and hope all played a role in adolescents’loneliness,but there were differences in the mode of action,and the differences were reflected in the different mechanisms of action of the different protective factors,with stress mindset playing a protective effect and self-esteem and hope playing a compensatory effect.It was further found that the protective effect of multiple individual protective factors was better than single protection,and the more risk areas individuals faced,the fewer protective factors they had,and the higher the level of loneliness.The results of this study have important implications for the development of interventions and prevention measures for loneliness:in intervention,practices to reduce loneliness in adolescents,it is important to focus on ecological validity,adopt a systemic and integrated perspective,shift from targeting a single risk factor to focusing on the integration of multiple risk factors,and pay attention to the synergistic and cumulative effects of multiple factors.Interventions include reducing the number of ecological risk domains and developing their own individual protective factors.