A study of 1,162 Chinese high school students found that negative affect explained most of the link between peer victimisation and problematic internet use, while teacher support offered only modest protection.
A study of Chinese high school students suggests that peer victimisation may be linked to internet addiction mainly through emotional distress rather than through lower self-esteem or unmet psychological needs. Researchers at Nanjing Medical University analysed survey data from 1,162 students in Grades 10 to 12 across six schools in eastern China and found that negative affect accounted for most of the indirect pathway between victimisation and problematic internet use. The findings point to a pattern in which hurtful offline experiences can spill into online overuse when adolescents use the internet to cope with anxiety, stress or low mood.
The research was built around two established frameworks in developmental psychology. The first, known as the Interaction of Person-Affect-Cognition-Execution model, suggests that stressful experiences can trigger emotional reactions that feed addictive behaviour. The second, self-determination theory, focuses on basic psychological needs such as autonomy, competence and relatedness. In this study, both approaches mattered, but the emotional route was clearly stronger. Negative affect explained about two-thirds of the mediated effect, while self-esteem and basic psychological need satisfaction played smaller, more distal roles.
The team also examined whether teacher-student relationships could soften these risks. The answer was mixed. Positive relationships with teachers were associated with higher self-esteem, stronger psychological need satisfaction and lower internet addiction overall. But the buffering effect was limited and uneven. Some interactions were statistically significant yet so small that the researchers judged them to have little practical importance. In particular, two of the four moderating effects explained less than 1% of outcome variance, suggesting that close teacher ties do not reliably cancel out the harm caused by peer victimisation.
A more nuanced picture emerged for the pathways involving psychological need satisfaction. When teacher-student relationships were stronger, the link between need satisfaction and self-esteem was also stronger, suggesting that supportive teachers may help adolescents convert inner resources into healthier self-regard. The relationship between need satisfaction and internet addiction also shifted depending on teacher support, changing from a positive association in low-support settings to a non-significant negative one when teacher relationships were stronger. Even so, the researchers said these effects were modest and should be seen as re
To complement the structural equation modelling, the study also used fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis, which looks for combinations of conditions associated with high internet addiction. That approach echoed the main findings: high peer victimisation, high negative affect and low self-esteem formed one of the clearest risky profiles. By contrast, high-quality teacher support did not appear as a standalone protective pattern. The researchers concluded that prevention efforts should focus first on emotional regulation and early identification of victimised students, with teacher support used as part of a broader school-based response rather than as a sole remedy.
Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical judgment, advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
