The Relationship Between School Disconnectedness and Adolescent Internet Addiction: A Moderated Mediation Model

Internet addiction (IA) refers to an individual's excessive and uncontrollable internet use. According to the cognitive-behavioral model of IA, school disconnectedness and relative deprivation may function as environmental and cognitive risk factors for adolescent IA, while adversity beliefs could serve as a protective factor. To examine whether relative deprivation mediates the link between school disconnectedness and adolescent IA, and whether adversity beliefs moderate this mediation, 2485 Chinese adolescents completed anonymous measures assessing school disconnectedness, relative deprivation, adversity beliefs, and IA. Results showed that: (1) school disconnectedness positively predicted IA; (2) relative deprivation partially mediated this relationship; (3) adversity beliefs moderated the relationship between school disconnectedness and IA; (4) adversity beliefs also moderated the link between relative deprivation and IA. These findings show the mediating role of relative deprivation and the moderating role of adversity beliefs in the association between school disconnectedness and IA, suggesting that fostering adversity beliefs could help reduce IA among adolescents.