Temperament and adolescent problematic Internet use: The mediating role of deviant peer affiliation

Problematic Internet use (PIU) creates psychological, social, school and/or work difficulties in a person's life. This study examined the unique roles of four dimensions of temperament (effortful control, sensation seeking, anger/frustration, and shyness) on adolescent PIU, as well as the mediating role of deviant peer affiliation (DPA) on these pathways. Participants were 2758 Chinese adolescents (46% male; mean age = 13.53 years, SD = 1.06) selected by stratified and random cluster sampling from 10 middle schools in southern China. After covariates were controlled, structural equation modeling (SEM) demonstrated that effortful control negatively predicted PIU, while sensation seeking, anger/frustration and shyness positively predicted PIU. SEM also identified that DPA partially mediated the pathway from all four temperament dimensions to PIU. These findings provide evidence for the relationship between specific temperament dimensions and adolescent PIU, and highlight DPA as one explanation for the prevalence of PIU.