A Study On The Effect Mechanism Of Online Social Support On Adolescents' Mental Health

Previous studies focused on the relationship between internet use and adolescents' mental health, and on such background the effect mechanism of social support which adolescents got from internet interaction had become an important research area.The present study investigated normal middle school students, college students and vocational technical school students, and employed questionnaire, interview and subject analysis to explore the mental structure of adolescents' online social support and develop the questionnaire on adolescents' online social support. With large scale questionnaire, the study analyzed the current situation and characters of adolescents' online social support. Using the method of multiple group comparison, the study analyzed the effect mechanism of online social support on adolescents' mental health in different level of internet use, and indicated that maladaptive cognition in the group of high and low internet use mediated the effect of adolescents' online social support on adolescents' mental health, and that real social support and self identity moderated the effect of adolescents' online social support on adolescents' mental health. The primary study and formal study involved about 4900 normal middle school students, college students and vocational technical school students.The conclusions are following:1. The development of adolescents' online social support questionnaire(1) There were 4 dimensions with regard to adolescents' online social support, which were: information support, peer support, affection support and instrumental support.(2) Results of Exploratory Factor Analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis indicated that the questionnaire had high reliability and validity, which met the surveying requirement and could be used in further study.2. The characters of adolescents' online social supportThe descending order of adolescents' online social support scores followed by information support, peer support, affection support and instrumental support. Adolescents' online social support was significantly different in different types of school—normal middle school students had higher scores; there were grade differences on college students and vocational technical school students' online social support; there was gender difference on instrumental support; and with the increase of times and period of internet use, adolescents scored higher on each dimension of the questionnaire.3. The mediating role of maladaptive cognition in internet use on the effect of adolescents' online social support on their mental health Maladaptive cognition mediated the effect processes of adolescents' online social support on each variables of adolescents' mental health. The maladaptive cognition of groups of high and low internet use were not significantly different on the effect paths while mediating the effect processes of adolescents' online social support on each variables of their mental health, but they were significantly different on path coefficients.4. The moderating effect of real social support and self identity moderated the effect of adolescents' online social support on adolescents' mental health(1) Real social support significantly moderated the effect of adolescents' online social support on their life satisfaction, self-esteem and loneliness.①The real social support of the group of high internet use moderated the effect of online social support on life satisfaction, self-esteem.②The real social support of the group of low internet use moderated the effect of online social support on loneliness.③In groups of high and low internet use, their real social support were significantly different on the moderating trend of the effect of online social support on life satisfaction, self-esteem and loneliness.(2) Self identity significantly moderated the effect of adolescents' online social support on their self-esteem and loneliness.①The self identity of the group of high internet use moderated the effect of online social support on self-esteem and loneliness.②In groups of high and low internet use, their self identity were significantly different on the moderating trend of the effect of online social support on self-esteem and loneliness.On such bases, the present study discussed the innovation and limitation, and provided relative education advice.