Dong WL, Li YY, Zhang YM, Peng QW, Lu GL, Chen CR. Influence of childhood trauma on adolescent internet addiction: The mediating roles of loneliness and negative coping styles. World J Psychiatry 2023; 13(12): 1133-1144 [PMID: 38186732 DOI: 10.5498/wjp.v13.i12.1133]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Chao-Ran Chen, Doctor, PhD, Professor, College of Nursing and Health, Institute of Nursing and Health, Henan University, Jinming Avenue, Kaifeng 475000, Henan Province, China. kfccr@126.com
Research Domain of This Article
Psychiatry
Article-Type of This Article
Observational Study
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Wang-Lin Dong, Yuan-Yuan Li, Yi-Ming Zhang, Qian-Wen Peng, Chao-Ran Chen, College of Nursing and Health, Institute of Nursing and Health, Henan University, Kaifeng 475000, Henan Province, China
Guang-Li Lu, School of Business, Institute of Business Administration, Henan University, Kaifeng 475000, Henan Province, China
Co-first authors: Wang-Lin Dong and Yuan-Yuan Li.
Author contributions: Dong WL wrote the first draft of the manuscript; Dong WL, Li YY, Zhang YM, Peng QW, and Lu GL were responsible for the analysis and interpretation of data; Chen CR directed all the work.
Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the Institutional Review Committee of Henan Provincial Key Laboratory of Psychology and Behavior (20230516001).
Informed consent statement: All participants signed informed consent forms.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: The datasets used during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement-checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-checklist of items.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Chao-Ran Chen, Doctor, PhD, Professor, College of Nursing and Health, Institute of Nursing and Health, Henan University, Jinming Avenue, Kaifeng 475000, Henan Province, China. kfccr@126.com
Received: August 23, 2023 Peer-review started: August 23, 2023 First decision: October 10, 2023 Revised: October 18, 2023 Accepted: November 21, 2023 Article in press: November 21, 2023 Published online: December 19, 2023 Processing time: 118 Days and 9.9 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background
Internet addiction (IA) refers to a compulsive or excessive use of the internet that interferes with daily life activities, relationships, and overall well-being. It is characterized by an individual’s inability to control or limit their online behavior, leading to negative consequences.
Research motivation
This study aimed to explore the effect of childhood trauma on adolescent IA and to consider the roles of loneliness and negative coping styles.
Research objectives
The study hypothesized that childhood trauma would be positively associated with adolescent IA, and this relationship would be partially mediated by loneliness and negative coping styles. Negative coping styles refer to maladaptive strategies used to deal with stress, such as avoidance, substance use, and self-blame.
Research methods
This study constructed a chain mediation model from the perspective of adolescents to explore the process and mechanisms by which childhood trauma influences IA. Childhood trauma had a positive predictive effect on adolescent IA, and loneliness and negative coping styles had a chain mediating role in the influence of childhood on IA among adolescents.
Research results
The results showed that childhood trauma was positively associated with both loneliness and negative coping styles. Moreover, loneliness and negative coping styles were found to mediate the relationship between childhood trauma and adolescent IA. The findings suggest the importance of addressing childhood trauma and its subsequent impact on mental health and addictive behaviors.
Research conclusions
This study provides empirical support and guidance for research and interventions for adolescent IA, and it also provides important insights into the mental health of middle school and the development of harmonious school life.
Research perspectives
This study used self-report data, which may have some problems, such as recall bias. Although no common method bias was found in this study, more objective assessments should also be considered in subsequent studies.
