Prospective Association Between Peer Victimization and Left-Behind Adolescents’ Loneliness: The Moderating Role of Sympathetic Nervous System Activity

This study explored the prospective association between peer victimization and left-behind adolescents’ loneliness and investigated the moderating role of sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activity as well as potential differences in left-behind status and gender. A total of 471 Chinese adolescents (50.1% boys; M age = 13.43 years, SD = 0.47) completed measures of peer victimization, SNS activity (indexed by skin conductance level reactivity, SCLR), and loneliness at Time 1. Loneliness was reassessed six months later (Time 2). The results revealed that T1 peer victimization was positively associated with T2 loneliness. SCLR was positively associated with subsequent loneliness only among boys from both-parent migrant families. Additionally, lower SCLR buffered the association between T1 peer victimization and T2 loneliness only among adolescents from father-only migrant families. These findings indicate that the interaction patterns between peer victimization and SNS activity in relation to subsequent loneliness vary depending on adolescents’ left-behind status.