Longitudinal Relationship between Shame, Loneliness, and Nonsuicidal Self-injury Among Chinese Adolescents

This study aimed to examine the longitudinal associations and co-developmental trajectories between shame, loneliness, and nonsuicidal self-injury, as well as the mediating role of loneliness in the relationship between shame and nonsuicidal self-injury among Chinese adolescents. A total of 664 adolescents (42.02% male; mean age 13.82 years) from Anhui Province, China, were assessed at three time points over 12 months. Latent growth modeling and cross-lagged panel model were employed to examine longitudinal relationships and co-developmental trajectories. Latent growth modeling indicated that both the intercept (initial levels) and the slope (rate of change) of shame and loneliness were significantly associated with the corresponding intercept and slope of nonsuicidal self-injury over the study period. Cross-lagged panel model analyses revealed that shame and loneliness at each time point were significantly associated with the subsequent nonsuicidal self-injury. Moreover, loneliness mediated the longitudinal association between shame and nonsuicidal self-injury: shame at Time 1 was significantly associated with loneliness at Time 2, which was in turn associated with nonsuicidal self-injury at Time 3. The findings highlight the longitudinal contributions of shame and loneliness to the development of nonsuicidal self-injury among adolescents and identify loneliness as an important mediator in the pathway from shame to nonsuicidal self-injury. These findings enhance understanding of nonsuicidal self-injury mechanisms in Eastern cultural contexts and provide implications for targeted interventions addressing shame and loneliness to prevent adolescent nonsuicidal self-injury.