Family functioning and Internet addiction among Chinese adolescents

Earlier studies have verified the role of family on children's development. Now, more and more researchers have come to realize that family, as a dynamic eco-system, is much more infusive than what is commonly thought of a family. They named this eco-system family functioning, which was found to have a negative relationship with Internet addiction in adolescents. However, not much is known about the mediating mechanism underlying this relationship. The present study investigated the possibility of self-esteem and loneliness mediating the link between family functioning and adolescent Internet addiction. A sample of 3289 middle school students (41% boys; Mage=15.771 years old, SD=1.545) completed the questionnaires regarding demographics, family functioning, self-esteem, loneliness and Internet addiction. With the demographic factors under control, the results revealed that: (a) family functioning was negatively linked to Internet addiction; (b) self-esteem and loneliness not only parallelly but also sequentially mediated the link between family functioning and Internet addiction; (c) significant gender and grade differences were found in the multiple mediation model. Overall, these findings have some important implications for the prevention and intervention of the adolescent Internet addiction. Family functioning (FF) was related to adolescent Internet addiction (IA).Self-esteem (SE) mediated the link between the relationship between FF and IA.Loneliness (AL) mediated the link between the relationship between FF and IA.SE and AL not only parallel but also sequentially mediated the above relation.Significant gender and grade differences have been found in the multiple mediation model.