Internalizing problems as a mediator in the relationship between low effortful control and internet abuse in adolescence: A three-wave longitudinal study

The aim of the study is to examine the relationships between early adolescents' low effortful control, middle adolescents' internalizing problems and late adolescents' Internet abuse, focusing on the mediating role that middle adolescents' internalizing problems may play in the relationship between early adolescents' low effortful control and late adolescents' Internet abuse. The study followed a sample of 482 adolescents (245 boys and 237 girls) from early adolescence (wave 1; mean age = 14.76, SD = 0.63), through middle adolescence (wave 2; mean age = 15.77, SD = 0.61), to late adolescence (wave 3; mean age = 17.88, SD = 0.57). The participants completed self-report questionnaires on temperament in wave 1 and on internalizing problems and Internet abuse in all three waves. Data from the mediation model showed that internalizing problems in middle adolescence mediated the relationship between low effortful control in early adolescence and Internet abuse in late adolescence.