Journal of International Psychiatry

[Abstract] Objective To explore the correlation between adolescent Internet addiction and reverse psychology and self-esteem. Methods In this study, 300 adolescents from July 2021 to June 2022 were selected as observation subjects. The subjects were categorized into an Internet addiction group and a non-Internet addiction group using the Chinese Internet Addiction Scale-Revised (CIAS-R). General information such as age and gender, as well as the Adolescent Adversity Questionnaire (AAQ) and the Self-Esteem Scale (SES) were compared between the two groups. The correlation between CIAS-R scores of adolescents in the Internet addiction group and the reverse psychology scores and SES scores were analyzed. Results A total of 44 cases of Internet addiction were detected in 300 adolescents, accounting for 14.67%. The age of the Internet addiction group was significantly higher than that of the non-Internet addiction group, and the proportion of only children, whose primary caregivers were grandparents, was higher than that of the non-Internet addiction group (P<0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in gender between the two groups (P>0.05). The SES score was significantly lower in the Internet addiction group than in the non-Internet addiction group, and the reverse psychology score was significantly lower than in the non-Internet addiction group (P<0.05). CIAS-R scores in the Internet addiction group were negatively correlated with SES scores and negatively correlated with reverse psychology scores (P<0.05). Conclusion Adolescents have a high rate of Internet addiction, and Internet addiction is significantly correlated with rebelliousness and self-esteem.

Key words Adolescents; Internet Addiction; Adversity; Self-Esteem