Elsevier

Computers in Human Behavior

Volume 73, August 2017, Pages 345-352
Computers in Human Behavior

Full Length Article
Psychological security and deviant peer affiliation as mediators between teacher-student relationship and adolescent Internet addiction

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.03.063Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Teacher-student relationship (TSR) was related to adolescent Internet addiction (IA).

  • Psychological security (PS) mediated the link between TSR and IA.

  • Deviant peer affiliation (DPA) mediated the link between TSR and IA.

  • PS and DPA not only parallelly but also sequentially mediated the above relation.

Abstract

A growing body of research has documented that teacher-student relationship is negatively associated with adolescent Internet addiction. However, little is known about the mediating mechanisms underlying this relation. The present study investigated whether psychological security and deviant peer affiliation mediate the link between teacher-student relationship and adolescent Internet addiction. A sample of 747 middle school students (51% male; Mage = 13.73 years, SD = 1.00) completed questionnaires regarding demographics, teacher-student relationship, psychological security, deviant peer affiliation, and Internet addiction. After controlling for demographic covariates, the results revealed that: (a) teacher-student relationship was negatively associated with Internet addiction; (b) both psychological security and deviant peer affiliation partially mediated the link between teacher-student relationship and Internet addition in a parallel fashion; and (c) psychological security and deviant peer affiliation also sequentially mediated the link between teacher-student relationship and Internet addition. These findings have important implications for the prevention and intervention of adolescent Internet addiction.

Introduction

Over the past 20 years, Internet technology has brought great convenience to modern life (Dhir, Chen, & Nieminen, 2015). However, the excessive use of the Internet may lead to Internet addiction, which will cause serious problems such as impaired physical, academic, and psychosocial functioning (Spada, 2014). Adolescents are at particularly high risk for Internet addiction because of their immature frontal cortical and subcortical monoaminergic systems, which are associated with motivation, impulsivity, and addiction (Brand et al., 2014, Chambers et al., 2003). More importantly, Internet addiction is particularly harmful to adolescents, because the addictive use behaviors and related negative consequences have been suggested to continue into adulthood (Englund et al., 2008, Park et al., 2014, Stavropoulos et al., 2017). Recent literature reviews have indicated that adolescent Internet addiction is widely distributed across countries (Kuss et al., 2013, Wang et al., 2016). For instance, using the diagnostic criteria of Young (1998), 1.6% of Finnish, 8% of Chinese and 10.7% of South Korean adolescents were identified as Internet addicts. In order to develop effective strategies for prevention, it is important to identify the risk factors and mechanisms for adolescent Internet addiction.

According to the stage-environment fit theory, negative school environment may trigger problem behaviors both in and out of school (Eccles et al., 1993). Consistent with this view, recent research has shown that the school plays a critical role in adolescent Internet addiction, which is believed to occur more often outside school (Li et al., 2013, Li et al., 2016a). As an important aspect of school context, teacher-student relationship quality is closely related to adolescent Internet addiction. Teacher-student relationship quality refers to the closeness between teachers and students characterized by the sense of teacher care and support (Wentzel, 1997). A high-quality teacher-student relationship has important functions such as warmth and control (Luthar, 2006, Verschueren and Koomen, 2012), which are theoretically related to adolescent Internet addiction. Based on attachment theory (Bowlby, 1969, Fredriksen and Rhodes, 2004), when individuals experience low levels of warmth from significant others such as teachers, they are more likely to seek alternative sources such as the Internet to compensate for their emotional hungers that are unable to be satisfied in the real-world. Second, according to Hirschi's (1969) social control theory, bonding to conventional institutions such as teachers serves as social control, thus socially integrated individuals are less likely to engage in deviant behaviors (i.e. Internet addiction) compared with those who are socially isolated. Consistent with these theoretical views, a number of empirical studies have documented the negative association between positive teacher-student relationship and adolescent Internet addiction (Jin et al., 2014, Wang et al., 2011). For example, in a sample of Chinese middle school students, Wu and Wu (2014) found that teacher-student relationship quality was negatively associated with Internet addiction. Similarly, Ni, Zhang, Zhang, and Shen (2012) found that teacher-student relationship negatively predicted high school students' Internet addiction.

These studies confirmed the direct link between teacher-student relationship and adolescent Internet addiction. However, few studies, if any, have examined the mediating mechanisms that “explain” how teacher-student relationship is related to adolescent Internet addiction. Therefore, little is known about how the impact of teacher-student relationship may spillover to Internet addiction. The answer to this question is particularly important for prevention and intervention of adolescent Internet addiction from the school stakeholders’ perspectives. The present study tests a theoretical model in which psychological security and deviant peer affiliation account for the relation between teacher-student relationship and adolescent Internet addiction.

As a fundamental human need, psychological security refers to the feeling of calm, security, and belonging, as well as the absence of threat, disturbance or distress (Maslow, 1942). Psychological security has critical implication for adolescent adjustment. According to attachment theory (Bowlby, 1969), close interpersonal relationships provide individuals with psychological security across the lifespan. The perception that close others are untrustworthy and unreliable may severely threaten individual's sense of psychological security, which in turn impedes normal function, and/or triggers compensatory responses aimed at restoring security from other sources (Abeyta et al., 2014, Keefer et al., 2012). In other words, psychological security mediates the links between interpersonal relationships and maladjustment as well as compensatory responses. This view has been supported by a wide array of empirical studies. For instance, Mann and Gilliom (2004) found that psychological security mediated the relationship between interparental conflict and adolescent adjustment. Likewise, Keefer et al. (2012) found that individuals primed with situations in which close others were unreliable reported lower psychological security (i.e., attachment anxiety) than those primed with reliable close others, which resulted in increased object attachment (a form of compensatory response). Because adolescents spend significant amount of time in school with their teachers, teacher-student relationship is inherently meaningful for adolescents.

To our knowledge, no studies to date have examined the mediating role of psychological security in the relation between teacher-student relationship and adolescent Internet addiction. Some indirect evidence suggests the mediating role of psychological security. On one hand, teacher-student relationship may impact adolescent psychological security. Previous research has suggested that perception of caring and supportive teachers is related to student outcomes in important ways (Wentzel, 1997). Adolescents who have poor relationships with their teachers have difficulty to take teachers as important sources of social support (Verschueren, 2015), thus they are more likely to experience psychological insecurity. On the other hand, research has documented that lacking of psychological security contributes to adolescent Internet addiction (Zhou et al., 2012). The underlying rationale is that adolescents may attempt to recoup the psychological security they lacked in real life and reduce their psychological distress through virtual world (Yang et al., 2016, Ying et al., 2014). Based on these theoretical and empirical grounds, we propose our first hypothesis:

Hypothesis 1: Close teacher-student relationship is positively associated with psychological security, which in turn is negatively related to adolescent Internet addiction. In other words, psychological security mediates the link between teacher-student relationship and adolescent Internet addiction.

According to social control theory (Hirschi, 1969), strong bonds with significant others may discourage individuals from affiliating with deviant peers (because of the obligation to fulfill the expectations of significant others and the fear of compromising established good relationships), which in turn decrease the risk of deviant behaviors as a result of reduced exposure. Hence, deviant peer affiliation is an important mediator in the link between strong relationship bonding and problem behaviors. Consistent with this theory, Zhu, Zhang, Yu, and Bao (2015) found that the association between parent-adolescent relationship and Internet game addiction was mediated by deviant peer affiliation. Similarly, Li and collaborators (2013) found that the relation between school connectedness (i.e., a student's sense of belonging within the school) and Internet addiction was mediated by deviant peer affiliation.

Although not yet tested, it is reasonable to speculate that deviant peer affiliation plays a role in the association between teacher-student relationship and Internet addiction. On one hand, according to social control theory, strong bonds with teachers may reduce deviant peer affiliation. Adolescents who have close relationship with teachers often feel obliged to stay away from deviant peers (Catalano & Hawkins, 1996). In contrast, adolescents who have weak bonds with their teachers tend to affiliate with deviant friends, because teachers’ expectations are not meaningful for them (Han, Kim, & Ma, 2015). On the other hand, social learning theory posits that peer settings provide training ground and reinforcement for deviant behaviors such as Internet addiction (Bandura & Walters, 1963), ample empirical research has shown that deviant peer affiliation is a prominent risk factor for adolescent Internet addiction (Li et al., 2016c, Li et al., 2013, Zhu et al., 2015). Based on the literature reviewed above, we propose the second hypothesis:

Hypothesis 2: Close teacher-student relationship is negatively associated with deviant peer affiliation, which in turn is related to adolescent Internet addiction. In other words, deviant peer affiliation mediates the link between teacher-student relationship and adolescent Internet addiction.

This study examines the mediating roles of both psychological security and deviant peer affiliation in the link between teacher-student relationship and Internet addiction. Compared with a simple mediation model, this integrated multiple mediation model allows for simultaneous examination of multiple mechanisms from the antecedent variable to the consequent variable (Hayes, 2013), which can offer more insights of how teacher-student relationship is related to adolescent Internet addiction. As such, the multiple mediation model has important implications for the improvement of theory, as well as the prevention and intervention of adolescent Internet addiction (Li, Zhou, Zhao, Wang, & Sun, 2016).

Due to the scarcity of empirical research, we know little about how the two mediators work together, but several possible mediation models may exist (Liu & Ling, 2009). The first possibility is the parallel mediation model. The lack of psychological security is only one of the possible explanations for adolescent Internet addiction, and deviant peer affiliation could be another explanation for Internet addiction (Li et al., 2016c, Mann and Gilliom, 2004). In this sense, the relation between teacher-student relationship and adolescent Internet addiction will be mediated by psychological security and deviant peer affiliation in a parallel fashion. The second possibility is the sequential mediation model. Adolescents who were not able to form psychological security with teachers tend to form friendships with deviant peers to recuperate sense of acceptance and belonging. For example, Ettekal and Ladd (2015) argued that adolescents who have poor relationships with their teachers are often less popular and harder to integrate into normal peer groups, thus deviant peers may become alternative sources of security, emotional support and sense of belongingness (Abeyta et al., 2014). Previous research has shown that, affiliation with deviant peers in some extent can fulfill adolescents’ psychological needs for acceptance and security (DeWit et al., 2000, Ettekal and Ladd, 2015, Soenens et al., 2007, Zhu et al., 2016). Therefore, low psychological security with teachers may push individuals to affiliate with deviant peers. In this sense, the association between teacher-student relationship and Internet addiction will be mediated sequentially by psychological security and deviant peer affiliation. The final possibility is the mixed mediation model, which that psychological security and deviant peer affiliation mediate the link between teacher-student relationship and adolescent Internet addiction in both parallel and serial fashion (Liu & Ling, 2009). Given the exploratory nature of the current study, we do not propose specific hypothesis about how the two mediators work together. Nevertheless, we establish a multiple mediation model to test all three possibilities (Fig. 1).

Taken together, we aim to examine three research questions in this study: (a) to test the mediating role of psychological security in the relation between teacher-student relationship and adolescent Internet addiction; (b) to examine deviant peer affiliation as a mediator in the link between teacher-student relationship and adolescent Internet addiction; and (c) to determine how psychological security and deviant peer affiliation work together (i.e., in parallel, sequentially, or both) in the above pathway. It should be noted that we use the term “mediate” only in the statistical sense, as the cross-sectional design does not allow causal conclusions. Nevertheless, this study will deepen our understanding of how teacher-student relationship is associated with adolescent Internet addiction and can provide valuable implications for adolescent Internet addiction intervention.

Section snippets

Participants

Participants were 747 students from three middle schools (Grades 7–9) in Henan Province, China. The sample was 51% male, and had a mean age of 13.73 years (SD = 1.00). After informed consent was obtained from both students and their teachers, students completed questionnaires regarding demographics, teacher-student relationship, psychological security, deviant peer affiliation, and Internet addiction. After informed consent was obtained from both students and their teachers, students completed

Preliminary analyses

Of all adolescents, 51 (6.8%) met the criteria for Internet addiction. This prevalence rate is similar to the national data of Chinese adolescents (6.3%; Li, Zhang, Lu, Zhang, & Wang, 2014). In addition, Table 1 provides descriptive statistics and correlation matrix of variables. Overall, the results of the bivariate correlations are consistent with our expectations. Specifically, teacher-student relationship was negatively associated with Internet addiction (r = −.33, p < .001). Psychological

Discussion

The protective role of teacher-student relationship in adolescent Internet addiction has garnered empirical support (Jin et al., 2014, Ni et al., 2012, Wang et al., 2011, Wu and Wu, 2014). However, little is known about the mediating mechanisms underlying this relation. Based on the attachment theory and social control theory, the present study investigated the mediating roles of psychological security and deviant peer affiliation. Our findings advance our understanding of how teacher-student

Conclusion

In summary, the current study took an important step in examining the mediating mechanisms through which teacher-student relationship is associated with adolescent Internet addiction. It showed that psychological security and deviant peer affiliation can not only in parallel, but also sequentially mediated the relation between teacher-student relationship and Internet addiction. Our findings support a multiple mediation model which advances our understanding of how positive teacher-student

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    This research was supported by the National Education Sciences Planning Project for Young Scholars of China During the 12th Five-Year Period “The Impact of Cumulative Risk on Adolescent Internet Addiction and Its Psychological Mechanisms” (No. CBA140145). Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Dongping Li, School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, 430079, China. E-mail: [email protected]

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