Sociocognitive understanding and depressive symptoms in preadolescence: the role of loneliness

An interesting association between sociocognitive understanding and depression has been documented in clinical populations, with high levels of depression apparently related to sociocognitive deficits. Yet no research has so far investigated the relationship between these two core constructs among typically developing populations. The aim of the present research was to explore if and how sociocognitive understanding and depressive symptoms are related during preadolescence. A sample of 326 students, aged 8 to 15 years, was administered a sociocognitive understanding task and a verbal ability task, followed by self-report questionnaires on depressive symptoms, perception of loneliness/social dissatisfaction and socioeconomic status. Results showed that sociocognitive understanding and depressive symptoms were significantly related both in boys and in girls, rs > .15, ps < .05, even after controlling for verbal ability and socioeconomic status. Moreover, t-tests showed significant gender differences, with boys reporting lower scores compared to girls, in depressive symptoms, t = -2.32, p = .021, and feelings of loneliness, t = -2.85, p = .005. In order to test if feelings of loneliness were responsible of the association between sociocognitive understanding and depressive symptoms, mediation analyses were conducted using Hayes’ (2013) PROCESS computational tool. Only among girls, loneliness mediated both the effect of sociocognitive understanding on depressive symptoms (point estimate for the indirect effect = -0.3259; 95% CI = -0.6176 to -.0.0480 ), and the effect of depressive symptoms on sociocognitive understanding (point estimate = -0.0342; 95% CI = -0.0621 to -.0.0098). Theoretical and practical implications of the present findings are discussed.