{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,14]],"date-time":"2026-10-14T20:02:32Z","timestamp":1792008152996,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":77,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,25]],"date-time":"2025-03-25T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1742860800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Public Health"],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title><jats:p>In today\u2019s digital age, concerns about internet addiction among adolescents have escalated alongside the widespread use of the internet. Simultaneously, research has spotlighted the influence of psychological factors like self-esteem and social anxiety on addictive behaviors. The aim of this study was to verify the hypothesis regarding social anxiety as a mediator in the association between self-esteem and internet addiction.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>A total of 10,158 participants were randomly selected from five vocational schools in Anhui Province, China, with a mean age of 18.5 years. They completed a series of self-administered questionnaires, including the Young Internet Addiction Test (IATS), the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS), and the Self-Esteem Scale (SES). Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to examine the mediating role of social anxiety between self-esteem and internet addiction, adjusting for demographic variables such as age, gender, and parental education.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>The correlation analysis revealed that self-esteem was significantly negatively correlated with internet addiction, while social anxiety was significantly positively correlated with internet addiction. The indirect effect of self-esteem on internet addiction through social anxiety was 0.11 (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u202f&amp;lt;\u202f0.01), constituting 28.35% of the total effect. Additionally, the total impact of self-esteem on internet addiction was 0.278 (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u202f&amp;lt;\u202f0.01). Subgroup analyses by age and gender confirmed the robustness of these findings, with significant total effects observed across different age groups (14\u201318 years: total effects\u202f=\u202f0.637; 18-24 years: total effects\u202f=\u202f0.744; <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u202f&amp;lt;\u202f0.01) and genders (male: total effects\u202f=\u202f0.385; female: total effects\u202f=\u202f0.744; <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u202f&amp;lt;\u202f0.01).<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Discussion<\/jats:title><jats:p>The results indicate that social anxiety plays a significant mediating role in the relationship between self-esteem and internet addiction, affecting both directly and indirectly this association. These findings underscore the importance of addressing self-esteem and social anxiety in interventions aimed at reducing internet addiction among adolescents, suggesting that targeted psychological support could be pivotal in mitigating the risk of developing addictive behaviors online.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2025.1412480","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,25]],"date-time":"2025-03-25T22:00:39Z","timestamp":1742940039000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Mediating effect of social anxiety on the association between self-esteem and internet addiction among Chinese vocational school students"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Yunjiao","family":"Zhu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Guifang","family":"Jin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Haiyan","family":"Shi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chenyu","family":"Sun","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hongyuan","family":"Wei","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Linsheng","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jiahu","family":"Hao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ying","family":"Sun","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Puyu","family":"Su","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiaoyan","family":"Wu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiaowu","family":"Tang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhihua","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,25]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"87","DOI":"10.1186\/s13034-023-00626-7","article-title":"Adolescents' internet addiction: does it all begin with their environment?","volume":"17","author":"Chemnad","year":"2023","journal-title":"Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health"},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"575","DOI":"10.1007\/s40429-022-00440-9","article-title":"Association of Cyberbullying and Internet use Disorder","volume":"9","author":"Floros","year":"2022","journal-title":"Curr Addict Rep"},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"115311","DOI":"10.1016\/j.psychres.2023.115311","article-title":"Depression and internet addiction among adolescents:a meta-analysis","volume":"326","author":"Ye","year":"2023","journal-title":"Psychiatry Res"},{"key":"ref4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"130","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jad.2022.07.053","article-title":"Demographic characteristics, family environment and psychosocial factors affecting internet addiction in Chinese adolescents","volume":"315","author":"Zhang","year":"2022","journal-title":"J Affect Disord"},{"key":"ref5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"287","DOI":"10.1016\/j.addbeh.2016.03.006","article-title":"The relationship between addictive use of social media, narcissism, and self-esteem: findings from a large national survey","volume":"64","author":"Andreassen","year":"2017","journal-title":"Addict Behav"},{"key":"ref6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"70","DOI":"10.1556\/2006.7.2018.16","article-title":"Internet gaming disorder in Lebanon: relationships with age, sleep habits, and academic achievement","volume":"7","author":"Hawi","year":"2018","journal-title":"J Behav Addict"},{"key":"ref7","first-page":"1","article-title":"Social foundations of thought and action: a social cognitive theory","volume-title":"J. 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