Traditional And Cyber Victimization And Internet Addiction Among Adolescents

Internet addiction is an increasingly prominent problem,which has a negative impact on individuals’psychosocial functioning.Thus,in order to provide a theoretical basis for the prevention and intervention of Internet addiction among adolescents,more and more studies are devoted to identify the factors that impact Internet addiction.Given that peers play a central role in adolescents’socioemotional development,researchers have recently begun to focus on the impact of being victimized in peer interaction on adolescent Internet addiction.However,most of existing studies have exclusively focused on one form of victimization(i.e.,traditional or cyber victimization)in isolation,ignoring the overlap and differences between traditional victimization and cyber victimization.Moreover,although the existing studies recognize the importance of investigating the potential mediating and moderating mechanisms for explaining the association between being victimized and Internet addiction,most of them exclusively focused on one type of mediating and moderating variables in isolation,which ignores the complexity of this phenomenon.Thus,in order to better answer the question of"how" and "when" being victimized is associated with Internet addiction,the present study embeds the specific theory of Internet addiction within broader theories of human development and combines the previous research to propose an integrated conceptual framework that may comprehensively explain how adolescents exposed to victimization develop Internet addiction through emotional,social,and academic pathways,as well as how individual and contextual characteristics play a protective role.A total of 1,028 adolescents(Mage=14.73,SD=1.52;50.5%male)from two junior high school and two senior high school in Wuhan and Xiangyang city participated in this study.This study tested integrated conceptual framework by conducting three studies.Under the guidance of self-determination theory,interpersonal risk theory and cognitive-behavioral model,Study 1 attempts to examine the sequential mediating role of basic psychological needs satisfaction,internalizing problems,and maladaptive cognitions in the relationship between being victimized and Internet addiction(i.e.,the emotional pathway)and to test the moderating roles of coping styles,forgiveness,self-control,friendship quality,school climate,and social support.Mediation analysis suggested that after controlling for adolescent age,gender,parents’ education level,parents’occupation,family income and family structure,traditional victimization(rather than cyber victimization)could uniquely impact Internet addiction through basic psychological needs satisfaction,internalizing problems,and maladaptive cognitions.Moderated mediation analysis further suggested that only self-control could weaken the negative relationship between basic psychological needs satisfaction and internalizing problems,which is consistent with the antagonistic interaction hypothesis of protective-protective model.Under the guidance of social network theory,social learning theory,deviation training theory,and peer norms influence theory,Study 2 attempts to examine sequential mediating role of deviant peer affiliation and peer Internet use pressure in the relationship between being victimized and Internet addiction and to test the moderating roles of coping styles,forgiveness,self-control,friendship quality,school climate,and social support.Mediation analysis suggested that after controlling for a series of covariates,both traditional victimization and cyber victimization could uniquely contribute to adolescent Internet addiction through deviant peer affiliation and peer Internet use pressure in sequence.Moderated mediation analysis further suggested that both school climate and offline peer support could exacerbate the positive relationship between deviant peer affiliation and peer Internet use pressure.The former supported the reverse stress-buffering model,while the latter supported the dual risk model.In addition,school climate also could weaken the positive relationship between cyber victimization and peer Internet use pressure,which is consistent with the stress-buffering model.Under the guidance of social control theory and cognitive-behavioral model,Study 3 attempts to examine the sequential mediating role of school connectedness,academic achievement,and maladaptive cognitions in the relationship between being victimized and Internet addiction,and to test the moderating roles of coping styles,forgiveness,self-control,friendship quality,school climate,and social support.Mediation analysis suggested that after controlling for a series of covariates,neither traditional victimization nor cyber victimization impacted Internet addiction through the sequential mediating effect of school connectedness,academic achievement,and maladaptive cognitions.However,traditional victimization(instead of cyber victimization)could indirectly affect adolescent Internet addiction through school connectedness and academic achievement in sequence.Moderated mediation analysis further suggested that online peer support could weaken the positive relationship between maladaptive cognitions and Internet addiction,which is consistent with the stress-buffering model.In addition,this study found that positive coping styles could exacerbate the positive relationship between traditional victimization and maladaptive cognition,and negative coping styles could weaken the positive relationship between cyber victimization and Internet addiction.The former is consistent with the reverse stress-buffering model,while the latter is consistent with the reverse dual risk model.To sum up,the results of this study provided a preliminary support for the integrated conceptual framework,and expanded the research in this field by elucidating the complex mechanism between being victimized and Internet addiction.The results of this study have three important implications for the prevention and intervention of adolescent Internet addiction.First,in the case of limited resources,preventing and intervening traditional victimization may lead to greater benefits.Second,it is promising to target the proximal pathways through which being victimized could affect Internet addiction and have a global awareness interventions that target the multiple mediators simultaneously are more likely to be effective.Finally,this study identified the key "leverage fulcrum" to develop the resilience mechanism,which is helpful for practitioners to develop scientific and precise prevention and intervention.