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Updated: Jun 10, 2025

A New Method for Inducing a Depression-Like Behavior in Rats
Published on: February 22, 2018
Relationship between personality and adolescent depression: the mediating role of loneliness and problematic internet
Congrui Fu1,2, Cong Li1,2, Xuemei Zheng1
1School of Nursing, Hebei Medical University, 361 Zhongshan East Road, Shijiazhuang, 050017, China.
Background:
Previous research has indicated that personality traits, loneliness, and problematic internet use (PIU) significantly contribute to the prevalence of adolescent depression. However, the specific interrelationships among these variables in explaining the occurrence of depression remain unclear. Drawing upon susceptibility theory and cognitive-behavioral theory, this study explored whether personality traits influences adolescent depression through loneliness and PIU.
Methods:
A total of 2476 adolescents (aged 12-18) from all over the country completed a psycho-social test, including the 10-Item Big Five Personality Inventory (BFI-10), three-Item Loneliness Scale (T-ILS), Problematic Internet Use Questionnaire-Short Form (PIUQ-SF-6) and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). The mediation model was built and bootstrap method was used to test the mediating effect.
Results:
Results showed that neuroticism, conscientiousness, openness, and agreeableness have a direct role on depression. Loneliness and PIU partially mediated the relationship between neuroticism, conscientiousness, agreeableness and depression, and completely mediated the relationship between extroversion and depression.
Conclusions:
The results suggest that loneliness and PIU play important mediating roles in the relationship between personality traits and depression. This remind us that alleviating sense of loneliness and reducing overuse of the internet are a strategy for improve depression among adolescents.
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