Physical maltreatment, insecure attachment, and online gaming disorder among Chinese adolescents: A multi-group analysis of single and non-single child family

Yuhang Cheng and Shan Jiang

Children and Youth Services Review, 2024, vol. 166, issue C

Abstract: This study examined the effect of physical maltreatment on online gaming disorder and investigated the mediating role of insecure attachment in the aforementioned relationship. Further, multi-group analysis was conducted aiming to explore whether the pathways in the conceptual model were significantly different across the groups of adolescents from single and non-single child families. Based on a multi-stage random cluster sampling method, a total of 2001 adolescents aged 12–18 years (51.3 % boys and 48.7 % girls) was obtained from Hebei Province, China. We used Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and multi-group analysis in SEM for data analyses.The results showed that physical abuse was directly associated with online gaming disorder (B=0.139, β = 0.107, p < 0.01, 95 % CI [0.063, 0.218]). Only anxious attachment mediated the relationship between physical abuse and online gaming disorder (B=0.069, β = 0.053, p < 0.001, 95 % CI [0.045, 0.098]), and between physical neglect and online gaming disorder (B=0.025, β = 0.029, p < 0.001, 95 % CI [0.015, 0.038]). The results of multi-group analysis suggested the significant difference in the pathway coefficients between the two groups. Significant difference was observed in the specific structural pathway between physical neglect and anxious attachment (CRD= − 2.851,p < 0.05), with the effect being stronger for adolescents from single child families (B=0.248, β = 0.279,p < 0.001, 95 % CI [0.176, 0.392]) compared with those from non-single child families (B=0.115, β = 0.137,p < 0.001, 95 % CI [0.073, 0.199]). The findings suggest the indirect influencing mechanism of insecure attachment in the relationship between physical maltreatment and online gaming disorder. The results of the multi-group analysis require future practitioners to evaluate the family conditions of siblings when intervening in online gaming disorder of adolescents.

Keywords: Physical maltreatment; Insecure attachment; Online gaming disorder; Chinese adolescents (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:166:y:2024:i:c:s0190740924005061

DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2024.107934

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