Objective:To examine the association among childhood emotional neglect, thwarted belongingness, perceived burdensomeness, and depression in junior high school students.Methods:From October to December 2024, a total of 314 junior high school students were recruited in Dongying City, Shandong Province. The Chinese versions of the childhood trauma questionnaire-short form (CTQ-SF), the center for epidemiologic studies depression scale (CES-D), and the interpersonal needs questionnaire (INQ) were administered for investigation. SPSS 27.0 software was used for common-method bias test, descriptive analysis, difference test, and correlation analysis. Mplus 8.3 software was employed to build a structural equation model, and the Bootstrap method was adopted for mediation analysis.Results:The scores of depression, childhood emotional neglect, thwarted belongingness, and perceived burdensomeness in junior high school students were 14.00 (9.00, 24.00), 9.00 (5.00, 12.00), 13.00 (8.00, 18.00) and 8.00 (6.00, 19.25), respectively. All variables were positively correlated with one another ( r=0.33-0.51, P<0.01). The total effect of childhood emotional neglect on depression was 0.493 (95% CI=0.396-0.591). The direct effect was 0.126 (95% CI=0.013-0.240), accounting for 25.56%(0.126/0.493) of the total effect. The total indirect effect was 0.367 (95% CI=0.287-0.447), accounting for 74.44%(0.367/0.493) of the total effect. Specifically, the pathway " childhood emotional neglect → thwarted belongingness→ depression" yielded an effect of 0.109, and the pathway " childhood emotional neglect → perceived burdensomeness → depression" yielded an effect of 0.258. Conclusion:Thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness play parallel mediating effects between childhood emotional neglect and depression in junior high school students.

Objective:To examine the association among childhood emotional neglect, thwarted belongingness, perceived burdensomeness, and depression in junior high school students.Methods:From October to December 2024, a total of 314 junior high school students were recruited in Dongying City, Shandong Province. The Chinese versions of the childhood trauma questionnaire-short form (CTQ-SF), the center for epidemiologic studies depression scale (CES-D), and the interpersonal needs questionnaire (INQ) were administered for investigation. SPSS 27.0 software was used for common-method bias test, descriptive analysis, difference test, and correlation analysis. Mplus 8.3 software was employed to build a structural equation model, and the Bootstrap method was adopted for mediation analysis.Results:The scores of depression, childhood emotional neglect, thwarted belongingness, and perceived burdensomeness in junior high school students were 14.00 (9.00, 24.00), 9.00 (5.00, 12.00), 13.00 (8.00, 18.00) and 8.00 (6.00, 19.25), respectively. All variables were positively correlated with one another ( r=0.33-0.51, P<0.01). The total effect of childhood emotional neglect on depression was 0.493 (95% CI=0.396-0.591). The direct effect was 0.126 (95% CI=0.013-0.240), accounting for 25.56%(0.126/0.493) of the total effect. The total indirect effect was 0.367 (95% CI=0.287-0.447), accounting for 74.44%(0.367/0.493) of the total effect. Specifically, the pathway " childhood emotional neglect → thwarted belongingness→ depression" yielded an effect of 0.109, and the pathway " childhood emotional neglect → perceived burdensomeness → depression" yielded an effect of 0.258. Conclusion:Thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness play parallel mediating effects between childhood emotional neglect and depression in junior high school students.