Concurrent and Longitudinal Relationships between Positive Youth Development Attributes and Adolescent Internet Addiction Symptoms in Chinese Mainland High School Students

Abstract

In view of growing adolescent Internet addiction (IA) in the global context, there is a great need to understand the predictors of IA and design related evidence-based intervention and prevention programs. This longitudinal study investigated the relationships between Positive Youth Development (PYD) attributes and IA problems and the mediating role of life satisfaction using a large sample of Chinese high school students (N = 2648). Separated by one academic year, students completed a questionnaire evaluating their adolescent psychosocial adjustment, including validated PYD and IA measures. Multiple regression and structural equation modeling analyses were used. Consistent with the theoretical predictions of PYD models, results revealed a significant negative influence of PYD attributes on IA symptoms concurrently and longitudinally. In particular, general PYD attributes, such as emotional competence, spirituality, and resilience, showed strong and stable protective effects against IA. Life satisfaction also served as a mediator of the influence of all measures of PYD attributes on IA symptoms. The study underlines the importance of PYD attributes in promoting adolescents’ life satisfaction and preventing IA, and thus contributes to the design and implementation of evidence-based intervention and prevention programs.

Psychological Morbidity among University Students in Hong Kong (2014–2018): Psychometric Properties of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS) and Related Correlates

“…As expected, PYD as an indicator of eudaimonic well-being, Martela and Sheldon [32] showed significant and negative impacts on the three factors of psychological distress in our samples. This finding can be supported by existing studies that have demonstrated that good PYD can relieve individuals' psychological distress (e.g., [44,45,75,76]). PYD is able to nurture youth mental health and encourage young people to make positive changes in multiple domains of their life to prevent behavioral and emotional problems [77].…”

Internet Addiction and Emotional and Behavioral Maladjustment in Mainland Chinese Adolescents: Cross-Lagged Panel Analyses

“…Nevertheless, it can be argued that IA, depression, and delinquency are complex developmental disorders shaped by multiple ecological factors and causal pathways. For example, these developmental problems may be affected by individual (e.g., positive youth development attributes) and contextual factors (e.g., parenting and family functioning) simultaneously ( Shek et al, 2018b ; Zhou et al, 2020 ; Zhu and Shek, 2021a , b ; Dou and Shek, 2021 ), which may lead to the associations among IA, depression, and delinquency. In this case, effective prevention and intervention youth programs may need to focus more on promoting adolescents’ competence and skills in a holistic manner instead of only targeting at eliminating one specific disorder, including IA ( Shek et al, 2018a , 2020 ; Chung et al, 2019 ; Shek, 2019 ).…”

Meaning-in-Life Profiles among Chinese Late Adolescents: Associations with Readiness for Political Participation

“…Second, with the adoption of a cross-sectional design, the causal relationships between meaning profile and political participation cannot be firmly established. According to the positive youth development perspective, it is theoretically reasonable that one’s developmental assets, including meaning in life, serve as an antecedent of adolescents’ well-being and behavioral functioning [ 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 ]. Nevertheless, to understand the direction of relationships, longitudinal designs are needed (see [ 69 ]) or an experimental design that manipulates one’s meaning in life (see [ 70 ]).…”