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Associations Between Parental Maltreatment and Online Behavior Among Young Adolescents

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Abstract

Deviant behavior of adolescents in the online world has emerged as a serious social issue in South Korea. Given the urgent need to address new forms of risks related to technological advancement such as the Internet, this study examined the mechanisms of online deviant behavior among adolescents guided by general strain theory. Two waves of the nationally representative Korean Children and Youth Panel Study (N = 2184; Mage = 13.6 years) were used. The study examines whether the association between parental maltreatment (7th grade) and online deviant behavior (8th grade) is mediated by depression (8th grade), and further whether the mediating effect of depression (8th grade) on online deviant behavior (8th grade) is moderated by mobile phone dependency (8th grade). Depression mediated the relationship between parental maltreatment and online deviant behavior in the following year. A significant indirect and negative effect of parental maltreatment on online deviant behavior through depression was observed when levels of mobile phone dependency were low and moderate but not when mobile phone dependency was high. The findings demonstrated that adolescent’s depression and mobile phone dependency represent a key mechanism in determining the association between parental maltreatment and online deviant behavior. However, these findings may not be applicable for youth with the highest levels of mobile phone dependency.

Highlights

  • Adopted general strain theory to examine the mechanism of online deviant behavior.

  • Depression mediated the parental maltreatment and online deviant behavior relationship.

  • Mobile phone dependency partially moderated the indirect effect of depression on online deviant behavior.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning (NRF-2015R1C1A2A01055203).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Counseling & Research, Korea Youth Counseling & Welfare Institute, 79, Centum jungang-ro, Haeundae-gu, 7F, Busan, 48058, Republic of Korea

    Shinah Kim

  2. Department of Social Welfare, Seoul National University, 1 Kwanak-ro, Kwanak-gu, #16-648, Seoul, 08826, Republic of Korea

    Yoonsun Han

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  1. Shinah Kim
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Correspondence to Shinah Kim.

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Kim, S., Han, Y. Associations Between Parental Maltreatment and Online Behavior Among Young Adolescents. J Child Fam Stud 30, 2782–2791 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-021-02059-2

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