Family functioning and Internet addiction among Chinese adolescents: The mediating roles of self-esteem and loneliness

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.