Uncovering the relationship between childhood maltreatment subtypes and adolescent internet addiction: Evidence from the network and mediation analysis

IF 3.4 2区心理学 Q1 FAMILY STUDIES

Child Abuse & Neglect Pub Date : 2025-09-17 DOI:10.1016/j.chiabu.2025.107687

Jianjun Huang , Xi Shen , Zhongju Xie , James Gaskin , Chenxi Yang , Jin-Liang Wang

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background

Childhood maltreatment has been identified as a predisposing factor for adolescent internet addiction. However, existing studies predominantly focus on overall scores of childhood maltreatment, overlooking the differential impact of five childhood maltreatment subtypes (i.e., physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, physical neglect, and emotional neglect).

Objective

To fill this gap, we aim to reveal the specific associations between childhood maltreatment subtypes and internet addiction, thereby identifying the most critical types of childhood maltreatment. The underlying mechanisms were also explored.

Methods

We conducted a large sample cross-sectional Study 1 (N = 9336) and a longitudinal Study 2 (N = 1390) to examine the relationship between childhood maltreatment subtypes and internet addiction through network analysis. Longitudinal Study 3 (N = 974) further explored the underlying psychological driving processes through mediation analysis.

Results

Emotional abuse was most strongly associated with internet addiction in both contemporaneous (Studies 1–2) and cross-lagged panel networks (Study 2). Moreover, emotional abuse was longitudinally linked to internet addiction through internalizing problems (i.e., anxiety, depression; compensation-seeking process) and sensation seeking (reward-driven process) (Study 3).

Conclusions

These findings unraveled the complex relationship between childhood maltreatment subtypes and internet addiction and emphasized the importance of psychological interventions focusing on experiences of emotional abuse.

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揭示儿童虐待亚型与青少年网络成瘾的关系：来自网络和中介分析的证据。

背景：儿童虐待已被确定为青少年网络成瘾的一个易感因素。然而，现有的研究主要集中在儿童虐待的总体得分上，忽视了五种儿童虐待亚型（即身体虐待、情感虐待、性虐待、身体忽视和情感忽视）的差异影响。目的：为了填补这一空白，我们旨在揭示儿童虐待亚型与网络成瘾之间的具体联系，从而确定最关键的儿童虐待类型。还探讨了潜在的机制。方法：我们采用大样本横断面研究1 （N = 9336）和纵向研究2 (N = 1390)，通过网络分析来检验儿童虐待亚型与网络成瘾的关系。纵向研究3 （N = 974）通过中介分析进一步探讨了潜在的心理驱动过程。结果：在同时期（研究1-2）和交叉滞后面板网络（研究2）中，情绪虐待与网络成瘾的关系最为密切。此外，情绪虐待通过内化问题（即焦虑、抑郁、补偿寻求过程）和感觉寻求（奖励驱动过程）与网络成瘾存在纵向联系（研究3）。结论：这些发现揭示了儿童虐待亚型与网络成瘾之间的复杂关系，并强调了关注情感虐待经历的心理干预的重要性。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Child Abuse & Neglect Multiple-

CiteScore

7.40

自引率

10.40%

发文量

397

期刊介绍： Official Publication of the International Society for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect. Child Abuse & Neglect The International Journal, provides an international, multidisciplinary forum on all aspects of child abuse and neglect, with special emphasis on prevention and treatment; the scope extends further to all those aspects of life which either favor or hinder child development. While contributions will primarily be from the fields of psychology, psychiatry, social work, medicine, nursing, law enforcement, legislature, education, and anthropology, the Journal encourages the concerned lay individual and child-oriented advocate organizations to contribute.