Emotional maltreatment and left-behind adolescents’ loneliness in rural China: The moderating role of peer acceptance

This study investigated the unique impacts of emotional abuse and neglect on loneliness. Further, it explored the moderating effect of peer acceptance in these associations among Chinese rural left-behind adolescents with non-left-behind adolescents from the same rural areas as a comparison group. A total of 914 rural adolescents (Mage = 13.71 years, SD = 0.90) participated in the study. Participants completed self-report measures of emotional abuse, emotional neglect, and loneliness. Classroom-based peer nominations were used to assess participants’ peer acceptance. Hierarchical regression analyses were used to test the independent and interactive associations linking emotional abuse/neglect and peer acceptance with loneliness. The results showed that left-behind adolescents experienced higher levels of emotional neglect than non-left-behind adolescents. Emotional neglect was more strongly associated with adolescents’ loneliness than emotional abuse. The associations between emotional neglect and loneliness were stronger for left-behind adolescents than non-left-behind adolescents. In addition, peer acceptance moderated the association between emotional abuse and loneliness among left-behind adolescents. Gender differences were found in the link between peer acceptance to loneliness among non-left-behind adolescents. Implications of these findings for future research and the development of interventions are discussed.