The Relation between Different Constructs in Middle Childhood Peer Interaction and Loneliness: A Mediational Model

The goals of the current study were to investigate relations between children's social behavior, peer relationship, perceived social competence and loneliness, multi-mediation between social behavior and loneliness, and analyze constructs of different levels in peer interaction with a sample of 430 children from Grade 4 to Grade 6. The results showed that: there are significant gender and grade differences in social behavior, peer relationship, perceived social competence and loneliness; social behavior affects loneliness through the multiple mediations of peer relation and perceived social competence and there is no direct association between social behavior and loneliness. Social preference associates with loneliness only through the mediation of perceived social competence; there are mediating and direct relations between friendship quality and loneliness; among variables in four levels of peer interaction, the strongest predictability on loneliness is from perceived social competence, and the less strong are friendship quality, social behavior and social preference respectively.