ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Public Mental Health
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1628873
This article is part of the Research TopicThe predictors, trajectory of development, negative outcomes and intervention of pathological Internet use among adolescentsView all 3 articles
Associations Between Internet Addiction, Life Satisfaction, and PostTraumatic Stress Symptoms Among Disaster-Exposed Children and Early Adolescents: A Three-Wave Longitudinal Study
Provisionally accepted
- 1Sichuan University–The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Institute for Disaster Management and Reconstruction, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
- 2Department of Psychiatry, Grossman School of Medicine, New York University, New York, United States
- 3School of Education Science, Leshan Normal University, Leshan, China
- 4Zigong Red Cross Society, Zigong, China
- 5Zigong Mental Health Center, Zigong, China
- 6Teaching & Research Section of General Practice,The General Practice Medical Center,West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
- 7Department of health policy and management, West China School of Public Health and West China Fourth Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
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Objectives: Previous studies have established links between Internet addiction, life satisfaction, and post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) in individuals exposed to disasters; however, the nature of longitudinal links remains uncertain. This study aimed to determine the potential associations among Internet addiction, life satisfaction and PTSS among disaster-exposed Chinese children and early adolescents. Methods: A three-wave longitudinal design was employed over two years and included 2354 Chinese children and early adolescents aged 6 years to 14 years who directly experienced an earthquake and COVID-19. A complete longitudinal mediation method was applied to analyze data collected in three waves from 2020 to 2022 with a one-year interlude. Results: Life satisfaction at Time 2 (T2) fully mediated the associations between Internet addiction at Time 1 (T1) and PTSS at Time 3 (T3). Internet addiction at T2 was a significant mediator of links between life satisfaction at T1 and PTSS at T3. Conclusions: These findings underscore the pivotal role of life satisfaction in mediating the impact of early Internet addiction on long-term psychological outcomes, highlighting it as a key target for interventions aimed at enhancing mental well-being after disaster exposure. Moreover, Internet addiction mediated the link between earlier life satisfaction and later PTSS, highlighting the importance of reducing problematic Internet use to prevent long-term stress symptoms.
Keywords: Internet addiction, life satisfaction, post-traumatic stress symptoms, Children, Young adolescents
Received: 14 May 2025; Accepted: 30 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Shi, Yuan, Chen, Tan, Jiang and Zhao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Wei Shi, shiwei19911014@163.com
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