Cyber victimization and tobacco and alcohol use among adolescents: A moderated mediation model

Chenchen Ouyang, Dongping Li, Xian Li, Jiale Xiao, Wenqiang Sun and Yanhui Wang

Children and Youth Services Review, 2020, vol. 114, issue C

Abstract: Although cyber victimization (CV) is an important risk factor for adolescent tobacco and alcohol use (TAU), little is known about the underlying mediating and moderating mechanisms. The purpose of the present study was to address this gap by examining the mediating role of positive smoking/drinking expectancies and the moderating role of perceived social support and effortful control. The participants included 1145 Chinese adolescents (Mage = 14.83 years, SD = 1.47). They provided self-report data regarding covariates, CV, positive smoking/drinking expectancies, perceived social support, effortful control, and TAU. After controlling for covariates, the results revealed that positive smoking expectancies mediated the relationship between CV and tobacco use, and positive drinking expectancies mediated the relationship between CV and alcohol use. Furthermore, perceived social support moderated the first link of the mediational chain and the direct relation in both the tobacco and alcohol models while effortful control moderated the second link of the mediational chain in the tobacco model and the direct relation in the alcohol model. With one exception, namely, the moderating role of perceived social support in the direct relation in the alcohol model was consistent with the reverse stress-buffering model, the moderating patterns concurred with the stress-buffering model. These findings, which need to be interpreted with caution due to their cross-sectional nature, clarify the mediating and moderating mechanisms linking CV to TAU and provide important practical implications.

Keywords: Cyber victimization; Tobacco and alcohol use; Positive outcome expectancies; Social support; Effortful control; Adolescents (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:114:y:2020:i:c:s0190740920301031

DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105041

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