Abstract
Although a large body of research has indicated that parent-adolescent communication is a crucial protective factor for adolescent Internet addiction, the mediating and moderating mechanisms underlying this relationship remain unclear. To address this research gap, this study, based on social control theory and the organism-environment interaction model, was designed to test whether school engagement mediated the relationship between parent-adolescent communication and adolescent Internet addiction and whether this mediating effect was moderated by rejection sensitivity. A sample of 1006 adolescents (Meanage = 13.16 years, SD = 0.67) anonymously completed the questionnaires. The results showed that the positive association between parent-adolescent communication and adolescent Internet addiction was mediated by school engagement. Moreover, this indirect link was stronger among adolescents with high rejection sensitivity than those with low rejection sensitivity. These findings highlighted school engagement as a potential mechanism linking parent-adolescent communication to adolescent Internet addiction, with high rejection sensitivity being an important risk factor amplifying this indirect effect. Intervention programs aimed at reducing Internet addiction among adolescents might benefit from the current research.
Highlights
Accepted: 26 March 2021With the rapid development of the network, the Internet has become an important platform for exchanging ideas, leisure, acquiring knowledge, and entertainment
Rejection sensitivity was negatively correlated with school engagement and positively correlated with Internet addiction
The bias-corrected percentile bootstrap results indicated that the indirect effect of parentadolescent communication on adolescent Internet addiction through school engagement was moderated by rejection sensitivity
Summary
With the rapid development of the network, the Internet has become an important platform for exchanging ideas, leisure, acquiring knowledge, and entertainment. The mediating and moderating mechanisms underlying the relationship between parent-adolescent communication and Internet addiction have begun to be examined [5,9]; for example, studies proved that deviant peer affiliation [3,4] and self-esteem [5]. Based on the organism-environment interaction model and family systems theory, this study was designed to test whether school engagement mediates the relationship between parentadolescent communication and adolescent Internet addiction and determine whether this mediating effect is moderated by sensation seeking. This was performed to more systematically reveal the delaying mechanism of adolescent Internet addiction and provide a basis for its scientific prevention and effective control
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