The Correlation between Social Anxiety and Loneliness of Left-Behind Children in Rural China: Effect of Coping Style

Abstract

In this study, the relationship between social anxiety, coping style and loneliness amongst left-be-hind children was investigated. The participants were 773 left-behind children recruited from 8 junior middle schools in rural areas of Zhejiang Province in China who completed the Social An-xiety Scale for Children, Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire and Children's Loneliness Scale. Results show that there was a moderate correlation between social anxiety and loneliness, and these variables had a significant negative relationship with positive coping style and a significant positive relationship with negative coping style. Furthermore, the left-behind children's social an-xiety, coping style and loneliness were different within specific demographic groups, such as gender, only child status and different type of parental work. Also negative coping style mod-erated the association between loneliness and social anxiety, so that children who were more likely to use negative coping strategies showed a stronger relationship between social anxiety and loneliness. Finally, the left-behind children's social anxiety not only directly predicted their lone-liness, but also had an indirect effect mediated by their copying style.