Child Maltreatment, Alexithymia, and Problematic Internet Use in Young Adulthood

Abstract

The goals of this study were to (a) examine the phenomenology and developmental correlates of problematic Internet use (PIU) in a large and diverse college student sample; (b) evaluate a developmental process model of PIU in which the expected association between child maltreatment and PIU would be explained by alexithymia; and (c) explore these relations as a function of gender and race. PIU was assessed in a sample of 1,470 college students (62.9 percent female, 37.1 percent male; M(age)=19.13 years [SD=1.49]; 46.1 percent Asian, 28.2 percent Hispanic, 16.3 percent White, 5.9 percent Black, and 3.5 percent Multiracial/Other) who participated in a larger study of young adult adaptation, which included measures of child maltreatment, alexithymia, self-concept, social support, and psychopathology. Males and Asian students endorsed higher levels of PIU than females and other ethnoracial groups, respectively. PIU was related to contemporaneous maladaptation in the form of decreased self-concept, lower social support, and increased psychopathology across groups. Experiences of child maltreatment were related to increased PIU, and mediation analyses showed that this relation was partially explained by alexithymia. These relations were comparable across males and females and between Asian and non-Asian respondents. The analyses provide evidence for the significant role of child maltreatment and the cognitive-affective deficits it precipitates in understanding pathways toward PIU in young adulthood. Our findings suggest that maltreated youth are at disproportionate risk for PIU, and their capacities to regulate and process emotion are important targets for prevention and therapeutic intervention.

Internet Addiction: A Systematic Review of Epidemiological Research for the Last Decade

“…In six studies, Young's Internet Addiction Test [35] was used to assess Internet addiction in adults [89][90][91][92][93][94]. The sample sizes ranged from 1,034 young adults in Turkey [90] to 13,588 Internet users in Korea [93].…”

“…With regards to sociodemographic variables, this includes male gender [55,56,90,92,[95][96][97][98]100], younger age [92,96], city residence [94], single parent and restructured family [55,94], being single [55], financial difficulties, university level education [96], as well as Asian ethnicity [91] were reported.…”

“…Psychological variables have included impulsivity [98,101], neuroticism [60,100], low agreeableness [60], low self-concept [91], escapism, loneliness [93], fun-seeking [102], and negative emotion avoidance [59]. Social variables were low satisfaction with academic performance [97,98], an insecure attachment style [98], child maltreatment experiences [91], low social support [91,100], lack of family love [97], homesickness [94], virtual social support directly and indirectly via depressive symptoms, and low actual social support directly and indirectly via depressive symptoms [104]. In addition to this, dysfunctional social behaviours and vulnerability to interpersonal dangers [93] were reported.…”

“…In terms of comorbid symptoms, the following factors have been found: depression [92-94, 97, 98, 104], anxiety [94,96], harmful alcohol use [102], compulsivity [93], sleeping disorders [96], ADHD [101], hostility [99], dissociative experiences and depersonalisation [59,90], psychological problems and high psychopathology in general [91,96,100].…”

14. Generalized Problematic Internet Use Scale 2: update on the psychometric properties among Italian young adults

“…Finally, the names of two of the original dimensions were revised. Specifically, the mood alteration factor was renamed "mood regulation" in order to emphasize the motivation to use the Internet to alleviate and process emotions (LaRose et al, 2003;Yates, Gregor, & Haviland, 2012), and the withdrawal dimension was renamed "cognitive preoccupation" in order to more clearly reflect its emphasis on obsessive thinking about the online world.…”