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School transitions provide contexts for adolescents to reconstruct peer relationships and re-establish social positions. Scarce research has captured the transition of aggressor and victim roles during this period and examined associated factors. To investigate the stability and shifts of aggressor and victim roles following the transition to middle school, this study conducted latent transition analysis with 1261 Chinese adolescents (32.6% female, Mage in Grade 6 = 12.1 years, SD = 0.7). Three subgroups were identified across Grades 5 to 8: aggressive–victims, victims and uninvolved. Adolescents were more likely to transition from aggressive–victim and victim roles to the uninvolved group during the transition to middle school compared to the transitions within the same educational phase. Males and those with insecure parental attachment were at higher risk of being and remaining in the involved groups. The findings underscore the dynamic nature of adolescent aggression and victimization and highlight the transition to middle school as a critical window for interventions aimed at helping adolescents disengage from aggression and victimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although recent studies have documented that perceived negative school climate is associated with adolescent Internet addiction, little is known about the mediating and moderating mechanisms underlying this relation. The present study examined whether deviant peer affiliation mediated the relationship between perceived school climate and adolescent Internet addiction, and whether this mediating process was moderated by adolescent effortful control. Our theoretical model was tested using data collected from 2758 Chinese adolescents (mean age = 13.53 years, SD = 1.06). After controlling for demographic variables, perceived school climate was positively associated with adolescent Internet addiction. Mediation analyses revealed that deviant peer affiliation partially mediated the association between perceived school climate and adolescent Internet addiction. Tests of moderated mediation further indicated that the mediated path was weaker for adolescents with higher effortful control. Results highlight the significance of identifying the mechanisms that moderate the mediated paths between perceived school climate and adolescent Internet addiction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bronfenbrenner's (1979) ecological model focuses on the interrelation between different contexts and the interaction between individuals and their proximal contexts. Based on this theory, the present study tested a moderated mediation model of family, peer, and individual characteristics to investigate how they impact adolescent Internet addiction. Specifically, we examined whether deviant peer affiliation partially mediated the relation between perceived parental monitoring and adolescent Internet addiction, and whether this indirect relation was moderated by effortful control. A total of 747 Chinese middle school students filled out anonymous questionnaires concerning perceived parental monitoring, deviant peer affiliation, effortful control, and Internet addiction. The findings indicated that while the impact of parental monitoring on Internet addiction was partially mediated by deviant peer affiliation, effortful control moderated the first stage of the indirect relationship. For low effortful control adolescents, perceived parental monitoring negatively predicted deviant peer affiliation. Conversely, the indirect path was not significant for high effortful control adolescents. These findings highlight the need to consider family, peer and individual factors simultaneously when evaluating risks associated with adolescent Internet addiction and have important implications for the prevention and intervention of adolescent Internet addiction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have documented that peer victimization is a significant risk factor causing Internet addiction among adolescents. However, little is known about the mediating and moderating mechanisms underlying this relation. On the basis of the emotional security theory and the resilience theory, this study examined whether psychological security would mediate the relation between peer victimization and adolescent Internet addiction, and whether teacher-student relationships would moderate the mediating process. Participants comprised 747 Chinese students (mean age = 13.73 years, SD  = 1.00) recruited from three middle schools. They provided self-reported data on demographic variables, peer victimization, psychological security, teacher-student relationship, and Internet addiction. After controlling for age, gender, parents' education, and family's financial status, mediation analysis indicated that psychological security fully mediated the association between peer victimization and adolescent Internet addiction. Moderated mediation analysis further demonstrated that positive teacher-student relationships ameliorated the adverse impact of peer victimization on psychological security, thereby mitigating the indirect effect of peer victimization on Internet addiction among adolescents. This study highlights the mediating and moderating mechanisms linking peer victimization to Internet addiction and has important implications for the prevention and intervention of Internet addiction among adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accumulating evidence suggests that multiple environmental and individual risk factors are involved in the development of adolescent Internet addiction. However, previous research has primarily relied on variable-centered approaches to examine how each risk factor functions to predict Internet addiction in isolation, ignoring the possibility that there are subgroups of adolescents who may differ in their combined exposure to multiple risk factors. Using a cross-sectional design, we sampled 14 risk factors across multiple socio-ecological levels and used a person-centered approach to identify subgroups of multiple risk exposure and to relate these subgroups to adolescent Internet addiction. A total of 998 Chinese adolescents ( M age = 15.15 years, SD = 1.57) participated in this study by filling out questionnaires regarding 14 family, school, peer, and individual risk factors and Internet addiction. Latent profile analysis identified 4 profiles that evidenced distinct patterns of risk factors: low risk (37%), moderate risk (44%), high risk (15%) and peer risk (4%). The high risk and moderate risk profiles showed higher risk for Internet addiction than the low risk profile. The peer risk profile had higher risk for Internet addiction than the high risk, moderate risk, and low risk profiles. These findings suggest that considerable heterogeneity exists in multiple risk exposure and the multiple risk exposure profiles are differentially associated with adolescent Internet addiction. Results from this study can inform the development of tailored intervention and prevention strategies to reduce adolescent Internet addiction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing body of research has documented that teacher-student relationship is negatively associated with adolescent Internet addiction. However, little is known about the mediating mechanisms underlying this relation. The present study investigated whether psychological security and deviant peer affiliation mediate the link between teacher-student relationship and adolescent Internet addiction. A sample of 747 middle school students (51% male; M age = 13.73 years, SD = 1.00) completed questionnaires regarding demographics, teacher-student relationship, psychological security, deviant peer affiliation, and Internet addiction. After controlling for demographic covariates, the results revealed that: (a) teacher-student relationship was negatively associated with Internet addiction; (b) both psychological security and deviant peer affiliation partially mediated the link between teacher-student relationship and Internet addition in a parallel fashion; and (c) psychological security and deviant peer affiliation also sequentially mediated the link between teacher-student relationship and Internet addition. These findings have important implications for the prevention and intervention of adolescent Internet addiction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]