The Relation Between Peer Victimization And Adolescent Problematic Social Media Use: A Mixed Methods Research

In recent years,the number of adolescents with problematic social media use is increasing,which has negative effects on adolescents,such as poor academic performance,family relationship,mental and physical health and so on.To identify the causes of adolescent problematic social media use,a majority of studies have been conducted.The findings indicated that peer relationship was associated with adolescent problematic social media use,among which peer victimization was an important risky factor of adolescent problematic social media use.However,the extant studies were mainly conducted in western cultures and the research methods used were single.Besides,the studies on how peer victimization influenced adolescent problematic social media use were still rare.Therefore,the current study tended to discuss how peer victimization impacted adolescent problematic social media use adopting multiple study methods in Chinese culture and tried to provide targeted prevention and intervention strategies.In the first study,in order to identify the causes of adolescent problematic social media use and set up a Chinese localization characteristic adolescent social media use influence factors model,we used the interview method and the grounded theory to interview 30 adolescents with problematic social media use and encoded the materials.The findings indicated that influence factors of adolescent social media use included content factors,environmental factors,individual factors and psychological factors.In addition,peer victimization was the most important influence factor(the number of reference points was 80).To explore the association between peer victimization and adolescent problematic social media use,as well as the moderating role of family support and mediating role of psychological insecurity in this association,we used peer victimization scale,family support scale,psychological insecurity scale and problematic social media use scale to investigate 1506 adolescents in the study 2a.The results indicated that peer victimization could significantly and positively affect adolescent problematic social media use;psychological insecurity could mediate the association between peer victimization and adolescent problematic social media use;family support could worsen the detrimental impact of peer victimization on psychological insecurity.The study 2b adopted the latent profile analysis to classify the 1506 adolescents based on their scores in peer victimization scale and family support scale,and discussed whether there was a difference in their problematic social media use under the mediating role of psychological insecurity.The results showed that adolescents can be classified into two groups,high family support-low peer victimization group VS middle family support-low peer victimization group.Compared with the high family support-low peer victimization group,the psychological insecurity of the middle family support-low peer victimization group was higher,and its problematic social media use was more serious.Conclusions:(1)The influence factors of adolescent problematic social media use included content factors,environmental factors,individual factors and psychological factors.In addition,peer victimization was the most important influence factor.(2)The relation between peer victimization and adolescent problematic social media use was mediated by psychological insecurity,as well as the relation between peer victimization and psychological insecurity was moderated by family support.(3)Adolescents can be divided into high family support-low peer victimization group and middle family support-low peer victimization group.Compared with the high family support-low peer victimization group,the relation between psychological insecurity and problematic social media use was stronger in the middle family support-low peer victimization group.