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Emotional Competence as a Mediator of the Relationship Between Internet Addiction and Negative Emotion in Young Adolescents in Hong Kong

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Abstract

Excessive use of the Internet in adolescents has been consistently found associated with multiple health concerns, especially negative emotions, and adversely affected one’s quality of life. While emotional competence is considered an important protective factor for youth development, its role in the relationship between Internet addiction and negative mental health outcomes has not been thoroughly investigated. The present study tested the mediation vs. moderation effects of emotional competence in the relation between Internet addiction and negative emotion in young adolescents based on 404 Hong Kong secondary school students (age = 12.4 ± 0.8 years). The results of structural equation modeling supported the mediation effect of emotional competence, but not its moderation effect. Internet addiction has both a direct influence on adolescents’ negative emotions, and an indirect effect through decreasing emotional competence. In particular, regulation of emotion appeared to be the only emotional competence dimension that mediates the relationship between Internet addiction and negative emotions. The findings suggest the importance of promoting emotional regulation competence to improve the quality of life of adolescents with Internet addiction problems.

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Acknowledgements

This paper and the research project are financially supported by the Central Research Grant of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Ref. No.: PolyU 254021/14H) and the General Research Grant by the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Project No.: PolyU 15604618).

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  1. Department of Applied Social Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Room HJ430, Hunghom, Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China

    Lu Yu

  2. Department of Curriculum and Instruction, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Sha Tin, Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaohua Zhou

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Yu, L., Zhou, X. Emotional Competence as a Mediator of the Relationship Between Internet Addiction and Negative Emotion in Young Adolescents in Hong Kong. Applied Research Quality Life 16, 2419–2438 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-021-09912-y

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