Building Emotional Walls: A Three-Wave Longitudinal Study of Sequential Reciprocal Links Between Loneliness and Expressive Suppression in Rural Adolescents

Abstract

Persistent rural–urban disparities and the prevalence of the “left-behind” status have made addressing loneliness among rural adolescents a critical developmental priority. This study examines the longitudinal, sequentially reciprocal relationship between loneliness and the maladaptive emotion regulation strategy of expressive suppression among rural Chinese adolescents. A longitudinal sample of 585 rural adolescents (aged 10–16 years) was recruited for a three-wave study involving data collection over 1 year (T1, baseline; T2, 6-month follow-up; T3, 12-month follow-up). Loneliness and expressive suppression were assessed using the UCLA Loneliness Scale and the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, respectively. A cross-lagged panel model (CLPM) was employed to analyze the developmental linkages between the two constructs. Across the three assessments, rural adolescents’ loneliness scores were significantly positively correlated with expressive suppression (r = .22–.32, ps < .001); Cross-lagged analysis indicated a time-ordered reciprocal but asymmetric pattern: T1 expressive suppression predicted T2 loneliness (β = .03, p = .024), and T2 loneliness predicted T3 expressive suppression (β = .24, p = .017). Rural adolescents’ loneliness and expressive suppression strategies exhibit a time-ordered reciprocal association, with loneliness exerting a stronger and delayed influence on subsequent expressive suppression.

Keywords

loneliness expressive suppression emotion regulation rural adolescents cross-lagged panel model

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