A Longitudinal Study Of The Relationship Between Internet Addiction And Internalizing Problems In Junior High School Students

Internet addiction,as a common phenomenon among young people in nowadays society,is harmful to their development and adaption.Studies have shown that there is the high comorbidity rate between Internet addiction and behavioral and emotional problems during adolescence.On the one hand,Internet addiction can increase internalizing problems such as depression and anxiety,as well as externalizing problems such as aggression and misconduct.On the other hand,adolescents with higher problematic behaviors are at risk of the high incidence of Internet addiction.Therefore,there may be a dynamic,two-directional relationship between adolescents' internet addiction and other maladaptive problems.However,most previous studies were based on the cross-sectional data,further longitudinal study is needed to confirm the possible causal or bidirectional relations between Internet addiction and maladaptive problems.To fill up the gaps,we use the method of short-term,longitudinal research design to examine the associations of both directions between Internet addiction and internalizating and externalizating problems(depression and aggression).In addition,this study also investigate the effects of interpersonal relations on the two-directional associations between Internet addiction and internalizing and externalizating symptoms.Teacher-student relationships,parent-child relations,and peer relations have proven to be the three most important interpersonal environments for adolescents,and are closely related to internalizing and externalizating problems and Internet addiction,all of which may play an important role in the association between variables.In view of this,this research adopts the emotional support and emotional conflict of teachers as the measured index of student-teacher relationships,the perceived warmth and control of parents as the index of parent-child relations,friendship quality,peer exclusion and the popularity as the index of peer relations.On the basis of analyzing the relationships among Internet addiction,depression and aggression,we futher explore the effect of interpersonal relationships on them.In this study,1,674 students(Mage=13.27,SD=0.67)from middle school in Xi'an city,who have been evaluated twice with an interval of one year.Young's Diagnostic Questionnaire(YDQ),The Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale(CES-D),Parent Warming Questionnaire,Parental Control Questionnaire,Network of Relationships Inventory(NRI),Teacher Emotional Support and Emotional Conflict were respectively use to collect data on Internet addiction,depression,the perceived warmth of parents,parent psychological and behavioral control,friendship quality and the perceived support and conflict of teachers.In addition,we adopted "class drama planning program" to measure peer nominations for aggression,peer exclusion and popularity.After the collection of data is finished,the data is analyzed by using SPSS 20.0 and Amos24.0.The main findings were as follows:(1)Among the sample adolescents,Internet addiction rate account to 16.3%at T1 and 21.7%at T2,and the scores of Internet addiction at T2 is significantly higher than the scores at T1.There are remarkable gender difference on the the scores of Internet addiction at both T1 and T2,the males are more easier than the females to become addicted to.Moreover,at T1,the adolescents from rural area are were more likely to be Internet addicted than the adolescents from urban area,but no sinificant difference bwtween them at T2.(2)When to investigate aggressive behavior and depresssion into the same model in order to exploring the unique relationship with Internet addiction,Internet addiction significantly predicted aggression and depresssion,with controlling for the baseline level of aggression and depresssion.Moreover,both depression and aggression could predict the degree of Internet addiction afterwards.(3)Psychological control plays a mediating role in Internet addiction and internalizing and externalizing symptoms.That is,psychological control mediates the effects of Internet addiction both on aggressive behavior and depresssion,and psychological control also mediates the effects of depresssion on Internet addiction.(4)Friendship quality mediates the effects of Internet addiction on depresssion.That is,the higher the degree of Internet addiction,the lower the self-perceived friendship quality and the higher the depression level.(5)Peer exclusion moderated the effects of Internet addiction on aggressive behavior.After controlling the baseline level of aggressive behavior,Internet addiction of adolescents with higher peer rejection can significantly predict subsequent aggressive behavior,whereas for adolescents with lower peer rejection,Internet addiction cannot predict aggressive behavior afterwards.In conclusion,this study reveals the interaction between Internet addiction and internalizing and externalizating symptoms,as well as the mechanism of important interpersonal relationships.The results of the study can deepen the understanding of the influence mechanism and negative consequences of Internet addiction,which has academic and practical signification.