Child maltreatment and internet addiction, and the roles of bullying and social support

Abstract

Internet addiction is an adolescent health issue receiving widespread attention. Previous studies examining risk factors of Internet addiction focused on individual factors, rather limited is known about social and family factors associated with Internet addiction. There has been emerging evidence supporting that exposure to child maltreatment and bullying elevated adolescents’ risk for Internet addiction. Yet, these associations have not been fully investigated. Specifically, no study has simultaneously tested the associations among child maltreatment, bullying, and Internet addiction. Further, limited research has examined the mechanisms underlying these associations, especially between child maltreatment and Internet addiction. Through the lens of attachment theory, this study integrated previous findings concerning child maltreatment, bullying, and Internet addiction into a coherent framework. This study closely examined the risk factors and impacts associated with child maltreatment, bullying, and Internet addiction among Chinese adolescents. This study also investigated the underlying mechanisms between child maltreatment and Internet addiction.

This cross-sectional study recruited 1204 Chinese adolescents attending Secondary 1 to 3 of six secondary schools in Hong Kong to participate in a school survey. The adolescents completed a self-reported questionnaire about their experiences of bullying victimization, bullying perpetration, exposure to child maltreatment, risk for Internet addiction, health conditions (including depression, anxiety, stress, suicide ideation and sleep quality), and perception on social support. The results from this study showed that child maltreatment, bullying perpetration, and bullying victimization were significantly associated with negative mental health and health outcomes, including depression, stress, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and sleep quality, supporting that child maltreatment and bullying are important social determinants of health. The findings of this study revealed common risk factors and impacts shared by bullying perpetration and victimization, suggesting that bullying perpetration and victimization have more commonalities than differences. The findings of this study also provide additional evidence that social and family factors are crucial in understanding Internet addiction. Finally, the mediation models analyses revealed that child maltreatment was associated with Internet addiction indirectly via bullying perpetration, victimization, and social support from family. In particular, bullying perpetration and victimization serve as similar mediational pathways through which child maltreatment contributes to Internet addiction. This study contributes to the conceptualization of the associations of child maltreatment, bullying victimization, and Internet addiction. Effective prevention and intervention strategies for Internet addiction should target the family and social vulnerabilities of adolescents.