The role of affect reactivity to daily negative parent and peer events in the development of adolescents' internet addiction

Abstract

Affect reactivity to negative events is considered a vulnerability factor for mental health problems; however, its role in internet addiction has been less explored. Based on the Interaction of Person-Affect-Cognition-Execution model, this study investigated whether affect reactivity to negative events in two key interpersonal domains—parents and peers—contributes to the development of internet addiction during the transition from Grade 8 to Grade 9 among Chinese adolescents. A 12-day daily diary combined with a 6-month longitudinal design was used to collect data from 244 Chinese adolescents (M_age = 13.87, SD_age = 0.51, 42.6% girls). Results revealed that internet addiction remained relatively stable but demonstrated significant individual differences over the 6-month transition from Grade 8 to Grade 9. At the within-person level, daily negative parent and peer events were associated with higher levels of negative affect. Moreover, daily affect reactivity to negative peer events, but not negative parent events, predicted a faster increase in internet addiction over 6 months. The findings highlight the critical role of affect reactivity to negative peer events in the development of internet addiction and offer insights for targeted prevention strategies.