Abstract: Peer Victimization, Psychological Distress, and Internet Addiction: The Moderating Role of Emotional and Social Intelligence (Society for Social Work and Research 22nd Annual Conference - Achieving Equal Opportunity, Equity, and Justice)

Schedule:

Sunday, January 14, 2018: 9:45 AM

Independence BR A (ML 4) (Marriott Marquis Washington DC)

* noted as presenting author

Hsi-sheng Wei, PhD, Professor, National Taipei University, Taipei City, Taiwan

Yi-Ping Hsieh, Assistant Professor, University of North Dakota, Taipei, Taiwan

April Chiung-Tao Shen, PhD, Professor, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

Jui-Ying Feng, Professor, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan

Ching-Yu Huang, affiliated researcher, Alliant International University, Alhambra, CA

Hsiao-Lin Hwa, Professor, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

Background/Purpose

Peer victimization is a common experience among children and adolescents, and it has been shown to have negative impact on the victims’ mental health and school adjustment. Anxiety, depression, and substance abuse are among the major internalizing problems associated with being bullied. With the prevalence of internet access and cellphones among students, internet addiction is another significant issue that has been increasingly recognized by parents and teachers, but insufficient attention was paid to look into the potential relationship between victimization experience and internet addiction. Therefore, the first objective of the current study is to explore the association between peer victimization and internet addiction. At the same time, past research had suggested the roles of emotional and social intelligence as protective factors for children and adolescents suffering negative events, and it is hypothesized in this study that such positive attributes may reduce students’ risk of psychological maladjustment and internet addiction when being bullied. Finally, the present study explores the potential moderating roles of emotional and social intelligence in the relationships between peer victimization, psychological distress, and internet addiction with a large representative sample of children in Taiwan.

Methods

Data and samples

Data were collected from a national proportionately-stratified random sample of 6,233 fourth-grade primary school students in Taiwan in 2014. They were assessed via self-reported surveys, and detailed information were collected regarding the students’ mental/physical health, school experience, personal attributes, and other relevant variables.

Measures

Students’ peer victimization experience, psychological distress, internet addiction, and their emotional and social intelligence were all assessed with self-reported surveys. Pilot tests were conducted to make sure that the scales have adequate reliabilities and validities.

Results

Step-wise regression models were constructed to assess the effects of the research variables on students’ psychological distress and internet addiction. The results showed that children’s peer victimization experience was significantly associated with psychological maladjustment and internet addiction, while emotional and social intelligence were negatively associated with negative outcomes. Emotional intelligence was found to buffer the impact of victimization on students’ mental health but not their risk of internet addiction. Self-reported social intelligence, on the other hand, was shown to strengthen the association between victimization, distress and internet addiction.

Conclusions and Implications

The results of this study confirmed the negative impact of victimization such as psychological distress and internet addiction. However, internet addiction seemed to be different from the other common forms of internalizing problems. Supplemental analysis suggested that many children may employ it as a coping strategy. Although emotional and social intelligence are generally protective factors for students’ mental health, social intelligence was actually found to worsen the victims’ psychological distress. Since this variable reflected the students’ self-perceived confidence in social skills, it may make some students psychologically vulnerable to rejection and aggression from peers. Future intervention designs should take these findings into consideration.