Abstract
Objective: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between parental mental health, particularly depression, and Internet addiction (IA) among adolescents taking into consideration adolescent mental health and parental IA as possible mediating factors. Of particular interest was the effect of parent-and-child gender match on these relationships.Materials and Methods: This was a population-based parent-and-child dyad health survey utilizing a random sampling technique. Adolescent IA was measured by the Internet Addiction Test (IAT) designed by Young. The mental health status of the parents was assessed using the Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale (DASS). Data were analyzed using Structural Equation Model (SEM) techniques with stratification by parent-and-child gender match.Results: One thousand ninety-eight (n = 1,098) parent-and-child dyads were recruited, and useful information was obtained. The mean IAT score was 28.6 (SD = 9.9) for parents and 41.7 (SD = 12.4) for adolescents. Results of the SEM suggested that the effect of parental depression on adolescent IA was mediated through adolescent mental health mainly through adolescent stress (regression weight = 0.33, p < 0.001) and less so through adolescent depression (regression weight = 0.19, p < 0.001) or parental IA (regression weight = 0.13, p < 0.001). Further analysis revealed that these mediating relationships are more significantly manifested in the father-and-son and mother-and-daughter dyads.Conclusions: Result suggested that the relationship between parental mental health and adolescent IA is complex and that adolescent mental health and parental IA also play important roles as mediating factors. These results have direct implications on the treatment and prevention of IA among young people.
Highlights
Internet addiction (IA) is a disorder that is characterized by compulsive use of the Internet and associated withdrawal and tolerance [1]
A recent study reviewing most of these familial factors suggested that adolescent IA was significantly associated with divorced parents, single parent household, and being the only child in the family [21]
The results suggested a significant parent-and-adolescent IA relationship in the group of adolescents with a low stress level (OR = 3.18, 95% CI = 1.65–6.14), but not in the high stress group
Summary
Internet addiction (IA) is a disorder that is characterized by compulsive use of the Internet and associated withdrawal and tolerance [1]. A recent study reviewing most of these familial factors suggested that adolescent IA was significantly associated with divorced parents, single parent household, and being the only child in the family [21]. While the review study only focused on IA among Chinese youth who may not present any problems, all these studies suffered from the same drawback with parental information collected through the report of the child, not from the parents per se [21]
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