{"title":"Academic Burden and Emotional Problems Among Adolescents: A Longitudinal Mediation Analysis.","authors":"Jingyi Wang, Ziyao Wang, Yuting Yang, Tingting Wang, Haijiang Lin, Wei Zhang, Xiaoxiao Chen, Chaowei Fu","doi":"10.1002/jad.12471","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Existing research indicates high prevalence of emotional problems among adolescents with excessive academic burden, yet the underlying reasons are not well understood. This study aimed to explore loneliness, physical activity, and sleep as potential mediating pathways between academic burden and emotional problems in adolescents.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A longitudinal cohort study was conducted among middle and high school students in Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province, China, with data collected at three time points. The study included 2965 adolescents, with a mean age of 15.2 years (SD = 1.7), of whom 48.0% were female. Most participants came from families with middle to high economic status (94.8%). Structural equation modeling was employed to analyze the direct associations between academic burden (measured by study time and academic stress) and depressive and anxiety symptoms. Additionally, the indirect associations were explored through three mediators: loneliness, physical activity, and sleep.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Higher academic stress at T1 was directly associated with more severe depressive symptoms at T3. Sleep (indirect effect 0.11, 95% CI 0.09-0.13), loneliness (0.10, 0.08-0.11) and physical activity (0.01, 0.002-0.012) at T2 mediated the relationship, accounting for 31.0%, 26.8%, and 1.8% of the total association of academic stress, respectively. For anxiety symptoms, sleep (0.11, 0.09-0.14) and loneliness (0.07, 0.05-0.08) mediated the association of academic stress with longitudinal mediation effect sizes of 34.1% and 20.6%, respectively. Study time was only associated with the outcomes indirectly via academic stress.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Our results highlight the importance of behavioral and psychosocial differences related to academic burden in understanding the severity of mental health problems in adolescents.</p>","PeriodicalId":48397,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Adolescence","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0000,"publicationDate":"2025-01-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Adolescence","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1002/jad.12471","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENTAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
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Abstract
Introduction: Existing research indicates high prevalence of emotional problems among adolescents with excessive academic burden, yet the underlying reasons are not well understood. This study aimed to explore loneliness, physical activity, and sleep as potential mediating pathways between academic burden and emotional problems in adolescents.
Methods: A longitudinal cohort study was conducted among middle and high school students in Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province, China, with data collected at three time points. The study included 2965 adolescents, with a mean age of 15.2 years (SD = 1.7), of whom 48.0% were female. Most participants came from families with middle to high economic status (94.8%). Structural equation modeling was employed to analyze the direct associations between academic burden (measured by study time and academic stress) and depressive and anxiety symptoms. Additionally, the indirect associations were explored through three mediators: loneliness, physical activity, and sleep.
Results: Higher academic stress at T1 was directly associated with more severe depressive symptoms at T3. Sleep (indirect effect 0.11, 95% CI 0.09-0.13), loneliness (0.10, 0.08-0.11) and physical activity (0.01, 0.002-0.012) at T2 mediated the relationship, accounting for 31.0%, 26.8%, and 1.8% of the total association of academic stress, respectively. For anxiety symptoms, sleep (0.11, 0.09-0.14) and loneliness (0.07, 0.05-0.08) mediated the association of academic stress with longitudinal mediation effect sizes of 34.1% and 20.6%, respectively. Study time was only associated with the outcomes indirectly via academic stress.
Conclusions: Our results highlight the importance of behavioral and psychosocial differences related to academic burden in understanding the severity of mental health problems in adolescents.
现有研究表明，学业负担过重的青少年中情绪问题的患病率较高，但其原因尚不清楚。本研究旨在探讨孤独感、身体活动和睡眠在青少年学业负担与情绪问题之间的潜在中介通路。方法：对浙江省台州市初高中学生进行纵向队列研究，数据采集时间为3个时间点。本研究纳入青少年2965例，平均年龄15.2岁（SD = 1.7），其中女性48.0%。大多数参与者来自中高经济地位的家庭（94.8%）。采用结构方程模型分析学业负担（以学习时间和学业压力衡量）与抑郁和焦虑症状之间的直接关系。此外，研究人员还通过孤独、体育活动和睡眠这三种媒介来探索间接关联。结果：T1学业压力高与T3抑郁症状加重直接相关。T2阶段睡眠（间接效应0.11,95% CI 0.09-0.13）、孤独感（0.10,0.08-0.11）和体育活动（0.01,0.002-0.012）介导学业压力关系，分别占学业压力总关联的31.0%、26.8%和1.8%。对于焦虑症状，睡眠（0.11,0.09-0.14）和孤独（0.07,0.05-0.08）分别介导学业压力的关联，纵向中介效应量分别为34.1%和20.6%。学习时间只通过学业压力与结果间接相关。结论：我们的研究结果强调了与学业负担相关的行为和社会心理差异对理解青少年心理健康问题严重程度的重要性。
期刊介绍：
The Journal of Adolescence is an international, broad based, cross-disciplinary journal that addresses issues of professional and academic importance concerning development between puberty and the attainment of adult status within society. It provides a forum for all who are concerned with the nature of adolescence, whether involved in teaching, research, guidance, counseling, treatment, or other services. The aim of the journal is to encourage research and foster good practice through publishing both empirical and clinical studies as well as integrative reviews and theoretical advances.
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