Building Emotional Walls: A Three-Wave Longitudinal Study of Sequential Reciprocal Links Between Loneliness and Expressive Suppression in Rural Adolescents

Persistent rural–urban disparities and the prevalence of the “left-behind” status have made addressing loneliness among rural adolescents a critical developmental priority. This study examines the longitudinal, sequentially reciprocal relationship between loneliness and the maladaptive emotion regulation strategy of expressive suppression among rural Chinese adolescents. A longitudinal sample of 585 rural adolescents (aged 10–16 years) was recruited for a three-wave study involving data collection over 1 year (T1, baseline; T2, 6-month follow-up; T3, 12-month follow-up). Loneliness and expressive suppression were assessed using the UCLA Loneliness Scale and the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, respectively. A cross-lagged panel model (CLPM) was employed to analyze the developmental linkages between the two constructs. Across the three assessments, rural adolescents’ loneliness scores were significantly positively correlated with expressive suppression ( r = .22–.32, p s < .001); Cross-lagged analysis indicated a time-ordered reciprocal but asymmetric pattern: T1 expressive suppression predicted T2 loneliness (β = .03, p = .024), and T2 loneliness predicted T3 expressive suppression (β = .24, p = .017). Rural adolescents’ loneliness and expressive suppression strategies exhibit a time-ordered reciprocal association, with loneliness exerting a stronger and delayed influence on subsequent expressive suppression.