Relationship of childhood physical abuse and internet addiction disorder in adolescence: the mediating role of self-esteem / 中华流行病学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To find out whether the effects of childhood physical abuse on internet addiction disorder in adolescence could be mediated by self-esteem.Methods 3798 high school students selected from 76 classes in Grade One and Grade Two,were asked to fill in the anonymous questionnaire,which including the demographic characteristics of students,Young' s Internet Addiction Scale,Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scales and Rosenberg' s Self-Esteem Scale.Results Childhood physical abuse could directly predict less self-esteem and internet addiction disorder (r=-0.108,P＜0.01,r=0.057,P＜0.01 ) and had significant indirect effects on intemet addiction disorder which could be mediated through self-esteem (a=-0.703,standardized b=-0.104,z=5.052,P＜0.001 ).Self-esteem had mediated 22.5％ of the childhood physical abuse cases on their internet addiction disorders during the period of adolescence.Conclusion Self-esteem could partially mediate the relationship between childhood physical abuse and internet addiction disorder.The mediating roles of self-esteem suggested that salient leverage points could make a change through empowerment training,self-esteem group training on self-esteem enhancement in the stage of adolescence.