Parental Conflict And Problematic Internet Use In Adolescents:The Role Of Social Anxiety And Environmental Sensitivity

Problematic Internet use(PIU)refers to excessive Internet use that has a negative impact on an individual’s study,work or social function.According to the "loss compensation" hypothesis,when the real life cannot meet the needs of individual development,they will seek compensation through the Internet.As a high-risk group of problematic Internet use,it is of certain theoretical value and practical significance to explore the influencing factors of problematic Internet use among adolescents.Parents are the core components of the family system,and parental conflict is one of the important factors leading to problematic Internet use among adolescents.Parental conflict refers to verbal conflict or physical aggression between parents,which is accompanied by negative emotional experience,due to different views on a certain issue or other influencing factors.In this study,a quantitative and qualitative study was used to explore the relationship between parental conflict and problematic Internet use among adolescents,and to investigate the mechanisms of social anxiety and environmental sensitivity.In the first study,1150 students from three middle schools in Bijie City of Guizhou Province and Lincang City of Yunnan Province were selected as subjects by questionnaire survey.With parental conflict,social anxiety,environmental sensitivity and problematic Internet use as key variables,the influence of parental conflict on problematic Internet use,as well as the mediating role of social anxiety and the moderating role of environmental sensitivity were investigated.In the second study,the qualitative research method was used to conduct semi-structured interviews with10 adolescents to expand the details of relationships not covered in the first study,so as to deeply understand the influencing factors of problematic Internet use among adolescents and its negative effects.The main research results are as follows:(1)Adolescents’ Internet use was generally at a normal level,and the detection rate of problematic Internet use was 15.2%,with statistically significant differences in gender and whether they were the only child.(2)There were significant positive correlations between parental conflict,social anxiety,environmental sensitivity and problematic Internet use.(3)Social anxiety partially mediates the relationship between parental conflict and problematic Internet use,and the mediating effect accounts for 27.13% of the total effect.(4)Environmental sensitivity moderates the second half of the direct path and the mediating path of parental conflict affecting adolescents’ problematic Internet use through social anxiety.(5)The interview found that parental conflict,social anxiety and environmental sensitivity were the factors influencing teenagers’ problematic Internet use.(6)The interview found that the influencing factors of problematic Internet use include internal factors and external factors;Problematic Internet use has a negative impact on teenagers’ emotions,studies,interpersonal communication and physical health.