Depression Mediates the Relationship between Childhood Trauma and Internet Addiction in Female but Not Male Chinese Adolescents and Young Adults

Abstract

Internet addiction is associated with a range of psychological risk factors such as childhood trauma and depression. Studies have also suggested sex differences in internet and other behavioral addictions. However, it remains unclear how childhood trauma, depression and internet addiction inter-relate differently between the sexes. A total of 1749 adolescents and young adults aged 12–27 participated in a survey of sociodemographic characteristics and standardized assessments to evaluate internet addiction (Internet Addiction Test), childhood trauma (Childhood Trauma Questionnaire) and depression (Beck Depression Inventory). Mediation and path analyses were used to examine the relationship between childhood trauma, depression and internet addiction. Internet-addicted females relative to males showed more severe depression but the control participants showed the opposite. Childhood trauma was associated with depression for both internet-addicted males and females; however, internet-addicted females but not males showed significant associations between depression and the severity of internet addiction as well as between childhood trauma and the severity of internet addiction. Further, in females, depression mediated the correlations between all types of childhood trauma and the severity of internet addiction. A path analysis suggested that sexual abuse and emotional neglect contributed most significantly to internet addiction when all types of childhood trauma were examined in one model. The findings suggest sex differences in the relationship between childhood trauma, depression and internet addiction. Childhood trauma contributes to internet addiction through depression only in females. The findings may guide future prevention and intervention strategies of internet addiction.

The Influence of Childhood Trauma and Family Functioning on Internet Addiction in Adolescents: A Chain-Mediated Model Analysis

“…As reported by other researchers, this study showed that anxiety and depression could increase the positive predictive effect of childhood trauma on IA [ 26 , 27 , 53 ]. Similar to many studies, childhood trauma is a risk factor for emotional dysregulation in adolescents, which further exacerbates the development of IA in adolescents [ 54 , 55 , 56 ].…”

Childhood Maltreatment and Parental Marital Satisfaction: The Roles of Depression and Anxiety

“…Depression and anxiety are two common indices of mental health, which may be in uenced by childhood maltreatment. For example, Dong and colleagues found that childhood maltreatment positively predicted depression among 1,749 participants aged 12-27 years [24]; Bu and colleagues reported that childhood maltreatment positively predicted anxiety among 797 pupils [25]. Those relationships between childhood maltreatment and depression and anxiety also con rmed in clinical samples [26][27][28], as well as the meta-analysis studies [29][30].…”

The relationship between Internet addiction and childhood trauma in adolescents: The mediating role of social support

“…Due to a lack of consensus on the conceptualization and measurement instruments for IA, the prevalence of IA among adolescents ranges from 0.4% to 44.7% worldwide ( Müller et al, 2015 ; Kawabe et al, 2016 ; Vigna-Taglianti et al, 2017 ; Chung et al, 2019 ; Chi et al, 2020b ; Chia et al, 2020 ; Xu et al, 2020 ; Bickham, 2021 ). The increasing prevalence of IA is related to adolescents’ low emotional stability and poor self-regulation ability ( Sasmaz et al, 2014 ; Dong et al, 2021 ). IA is accompanied by physical and psychiatric symptoms, such as depression, anxiety, and loneliness, while forcibly stopping or reducing Internet use may cause a withdrawal reaction ( Tao et al, 2008 ).…”