Influences of parental problem drinking on internet addiction among early adolescents: a multiple-mediation analysis

This study was designed to describe the relationship between Internet addiction and parental problem drinking among early adolescents. Specific aims were to identify indirect, direct, and total influence of parental problem drinking on Internet addiction; to determine relative magnitudes of specific mediating effects of self-esteem, family function, anxiety-depression, and aggression in the total sample and the Internet addiction subgroup. The target population for this correlational study was early adolescents aged 11-12 years (n = 743) who attended elementary school in J City, South Korea. Study variables included the Internet addiction self-test scale, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, the Children of Alcoholics Screening Test, the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scale III, and the Korean version of the Child Behavior Checklist. Multiple-mediation analyses were performed. A significant association was observed between parental problem drinking and adolescents' Internet addiction. Only aggression significantly mediated the relationship between parental problem drinking and adolescents' Internet addiction in the total sample. When the Internet addiction group was analyzed separately as a subgroup, the mediation effect of aggression disappeared, and parental problem drinking had neither indirect nor direct association. However, the significant association of aggression with Internet addiction in the Internet addiction subgroup was two times as much as in the total sample. The findings suggested that parental problem drinking and aggression should be examined early to prevent development of Internet addiction in early adolescents. For those who already have developed Internet addiction, aggression should be the focal point for more effective intervention strategies.