Pathways from Childhood Trauma to Internet Addiction: Mediating Roles of Emotion Dysregulation and Depression, and Moderating Role of Resilience

Increasing evidence indicates a meaningful association between childhood trauma and Internet addiction; however, less is known with respect to the psychological mechanism underlying this relationship. The present study examined the serial mediating roles of emotion dysregulation and depression, and the moderating role of resilience, in the link between childhood trauma and Internet addiction. A total of 869 university students (<i>F</i> = 57.2%, <i>M</i> = 42.8%; M_age= 20.76 ± 1.61) participated in the study. The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form (CTQ-SF), the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale-Brief Form (DERS-16), and the Internet Addiction Test-Short Form (IAT-SF) were used as the data collection tools. Correlation analysis revealed significant positive associations among childhood trauma, emotion dysregulation, depression, and Internet addiction, but resilience was negatively correlated with these variables. Further analyses demonstrated that childhood trauma predicted Internet addiction indirectly through emotion dysregulation and depression while its direct effect was not significant. These indirect effects, however, were diminished by resilience, supporting a moderated mediation model. Accordingly, emotion dysregulation and depression may serve as psychological mechanisms that transfer the impacts of childhood trauma to Internet addiction, but resilience could mitigate these effects. Interventions that target these psychological factors may help reduce the problem of Internet addiction among university students with a history of childhood trauma.