The effects of self-esteem and parental phubbing on adolescent internet addiction and the moderating role of the classroom environment: a hierarchical linear model analysis

Abstract Background With the advent of the new media era, the understanding of adolescent internet addiction needs to be enriched. It is also necessary to distinguish the related factors of adolescent internet addiction at different levels to clarify the mechanisms of this phenomenon. Methods This study used hierarchical linear model analysis to explore the effects of student-level factors and school-level factors on adolescent internet addiction, along with cross-level moderating effects. A total of 1,912 students between the 4th and 8th grades in China participated in the study. Participants completed the Self-Esteem Scale, Parents Phubbing Scale, Classroom Environment Scale, and the Diagnostic Questionnaire of Internet Addiction. Results Correlational analyses revealed that internet addiction was found to be negatively correlated with both self-esteem and the teacher-student relationship (p