Computers in Human Behavior 90 (2019) 74–83

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Child neglect, psychological abuse and smartphone addiction among T

Chinese adolescents: The roles of emotional intelligence and coping style
Jianing Suna,b, Qinxue Liua,b,c,∗, Si Yua,b
a
Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior (CCNU), Ministry of Education, Wuhan, 430079, China
b
School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, 430079, China
c
Key Laboratory of Human Development and Mental Health of Hubei Province, Wuhan, 430079, China

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The present study examined the mediation effects of emotional intelligence and coping style between child
Child neglect neglect and psychological abuse and smartphone addiction. A sample of 1041 Chinese adolescents from 11 to 15
Child psychological abuse years of age (mean age = 12.41 years, SD = 0.65) responded to anonymous questionnaires regarding child
Emotional intelligence neglect and psychological abuse, emotional intelligence, coping style and smartphone addiction. The findings
Coping style
revealed that both emotional intelligence and coping style mediated the link between child neglect and psy-
Smartphone addiction
chological abuse and smartphone addition in a parallel fashion. In addition, emotional intelligence and coping
Adolescents
style also sequentially mediated the link between child neglect and psychological abuse and smartphone ad-
diction. The present study can contribute to a better understanding of how child abuse and neglect increased the
risk of smartphone addiction. It suggests that tailored approaches are necessary for adolescents who are addicted
to smartphones.

1. Introduction
Smartphones have become an essential part of modern life because
of their improved portability and rich functionality (Lian, You, Huang,
& Yang, 2016; Shin, Shin, Choo, & Beom, 2011). Based on data from the
International Telecommunications Union, there were over 7.5 billion
mobile cellular subscriptions by the end of 2016, which were virtually
as many as people in the world. In China, according to the newest re-
port from China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC, 2018),
mobile phones were the most popular access to the internet (97.5%) by
December of 2017. However, more and more young people seem to
develop attachment towards smartphones (Liu, Yang, et al., 2017), and
more importantly, excessive use of smartphone may lead to smartphone
addiction (Han, Geng, Jou, Gao, & Yang, 2017; Lian et al., 2016).
Smartphone addiction was generally conceptualized as the inability to
control the impulse to use smartphones or excessive use of them, which
could lead to negative consequences in individuals' daily life (Liu, Yang,
& Zhou, 2017). Growing evidence revealed that, smartphone addiction
was found to lead to problems such as poor sleep quality, declined
academic performance, depression and anxiety (Demirci, Akgönül, &
Akpinar, 2015; Lian et al., 2016; Samaha & Hawi, 2016). It is worth
noting that adolescents are at high risk for smartphone addiction be-
cause they are low in self-regulation and vulnerable to peer influence
(Ding, Li, Zhou, Dong, & Luo, 2017; Spada, 2014; Trucco, Colder, &
Wieczorek, 2011). More importantly, adolescence is a critical stage in
life cycle and the addictive patterns in adolescence were suggested to
set a pathway leading to addiction in adulthood (Englund, Egeland,
Oliva, & Collins, 2008). Therefore, to improve both the prevention and
treatment, identification of potential risk factors and the underlying
mechanisms for adolescent smartphone addiction is in priority.
Given the fact that smartphone communications are based on
human relationships, it is reasonable to consider the relational aspects
in smartphone addiction field (Kwak, Kim, & Yoon, 2018). In line with
this perspective, family relationships can be core factors influencing
adolescent smartphone addiction, and child maltreatment has been
noted as one of the important predictors for behavioral problems such
as internet or smartphone addiction (Arslan, 2017; Hsieh et al., 2016).
Although previous studies have supported the relation between dif-
ferent types of child maltreatment and internet or smartphone addic-
tion, few studies, if any, have revealed underlying mediating mechan-
isms that could account for the relation. Childhood adversities have
negative effects on one's emotional and social development, moreover,
these negative effects may sustain for a long time (Turner, Thomas, &
Brown, 2016). Moreover, according to risky families model (Repetti,
Taylor, & Seeman, 2002), behavioral addiction could be viewed as a
compensatory method for deficiencies in social and emotion

∗
Corresponding author. Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior (CCNU), Ministry of Education, Wuhan, 430079, China.
E-mail address: qinxueliu@mail.ccnu.edu.cn (Q. Liu).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2018.08.032
Received 28 September 2017; Received in revised form 15 August 2018; Accepted 18 August 2018
Available online 22 August 2018
0747-5632/ © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
J. Sun et al.
development caused by risky families. Consequently, adolescents with
childhood maltreatment history are vulnerable to behavioral addiction
such as internet or smartphone addiction, because they may develop
deficits in emotion-related abilities and experience disruptions in
coping with stress (Repetti, Robles, & Reynolds, 2011; Repetti et al.,
2002). Risky families model can provide an appropriate theoretical
perspective for the present study, because it emphasizes the important
roles of emotion-related factors and stress-coping strategies in ex-
plaining the link between child abuse and adolescent addictive beha-
viors. Guided by this model, the current study aims to examine a
multiple mediation model in which the relation between child neglect
and psychological abuse and adolescent smartphone addiction is
mediated by emotional intelligence (an emotion-related factor) and
coping style (a coping-related factor). This integrated multiple media-
tion model can examine multiple mechanisms between childhood
maltreatment and smartphone addiction as well as advance our un-
derstanding of smartphone addiction. Moreover, the present study may
make theoretical contributions in terms of providing greater under-
standing of how childhood experiences influence adolescent smart-
phone usage.
2. Literature review
2.1. Child neglect, psychological abuse and smartphone addiction
Child neglect refers to the failure of parents or other caregivers to
meet their children's basic needs, and child psychological abuse is de-
fined as the sustained, repetitive as well as inappropriate behavior that
damages or impedes the development of children (Bernstein et al.,
2003; O'Hagan, 1995). In previous studies, psychological abuse and
emotional abuse were sometimes used interchangeably (O'Hagan,
1995), and neglect usually included emotional neglect and physical
neglect (e.g., Hsieh et al., 2016; Mills, Newman, Cossar, & Murray,
2015). Existing research on child maltreatment seemed to be dominated
by research on sexual and physical abuse (Hsieh et al., 2016). However,
child neglect and psychological abuse were more prevalent than sexual
and physical violence, and could also lead to devastating consequences
for child development, both in the short and long term (Stoltenborgh,
Bakermans-Kranenburg, Alink, & IJzendoorn, 2014). Therefore, we
included child neglect and psychological abuse in our model in current
study.
According to self-medication hypothesis and its updates, instead of
simply escaping from the reality, self-medication motivation is one of
the most compelling reasons for addiction. Individuals who did not
have adequate nurturance from their parents in their childhood were
vulnerable to difficulties in coping with emotions, relationships and self
issues (Khantzian, 1997; Shepherd & Edelmann, 2005). Therefore, in-
dividuals with childhood maltreatment were more likely to become
addicted to reduce their emotional tension (Khantzian, 1985). Con-
sistent with this perspective, recent studies illustrated that addictive
behaviors could be a behavioral response to strains that already existed
such as family conflicts, interpersonal stress, and child maltreatment
(Chiu, 2014; Hsieh et al., 2016; Schimmenti et al., 2017). Although this
model was initially posited to explain substance addiction, researchers
suggested that adolescents with childhood maltreatment might adjust
their emotion through the internet or smartphone, because the internet
and smartphone were considered as less harmful and more accessible
than illegal substances (Yen, Ko, Yen, Wu, & Yang, 2007). Thus, those
who survived previous traumas were more likely to turn to the smart-
phone for comfort and social support (Liu & Kuo, 2007). For adoles-
cents, child abuse and neglect are the prevalence of traumatic experi-
ences. A growing body of research has established that child abuse and
neglect are strong predictors for both substance and behavioral addic-
tion (Hsieh et al., 2016; Schäfer et al., 2017). For example, Hsieh et al.
(2016) found that child maltreatment positively predicted internet
addiction. These findings suggested that child maltreatment was crucial
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Computers in Human Behavior 90 (2019) 74–83
in addictive behaviors. Similar results were found in smartphone ad-
diction area, for example (Wang, 2014a) found that child maltreatment
was an important risk factor for smartphone addiction.
2.2. The mediating role of emotional intelligence
Emotional intelligence is the ability to reason about emotions and
utilize affect-laden information to guide one's thinking as well as ac-
tions (Mayer, Salovey, & Caruso, 2004; van der Linden et al., 2017).
Based on four-branch ability model of emotional intelligence, emo-
tional intelligence includes the abilities to perceive emotions, use
emotions to facilitate thoughts, understand emotions and manage
emotions (Mayer, Caruso, & Salovey, 2016; Salovey & Mayer, 1990).
Emotional intelligence is an important social skill, and according to
social skill model, the deficiency in social skills predisposes individuals
to develop preference for online social interaction, which increases the
risk of smartphone addiction (Caplan, 2005; Jeong, Kim, Yum, &
Hwang, 2016). In accordance with this perspective, emotionally in-
telligent skills were found to be protective factors for internet addiction
or problematic internet use (Casale, Tella, & Fioravanti, 2013). On the
contrary, the lack of emotionally intelligent skills was a predisposing
risk factor for the development of a variety of addiction (Casale et al.,
2013; Khosravani, Bastan, Ghorbani, & Kamali, 2017).
In addition, findings from empirical studies showed that childhood
maltreatment was associated with corpus callosum reduction, which
consequently gave rise to emotional problems (Laitinen, 1972; Teicher
et al., 2004). Specifically, researchers found that childhood neglect was
related to decreased metabolic activity in the amygdala, a brain area
that played a critical role in emotions (Perry, 2002). Consistently, re-
search revealed that the acquisition of emotionally intelligent skills was
negatively associated with childhood maltreatment (Schimmenti et al.,
2017). To go further, emotional intelligent skills were found to mediate
the relationship between childhood abuse and addiction. For example, a
study among Chinese college students suggested that the association of
childhood abuse and smartphone addiction tendency was mediated by
alexithymia which was characterized by difficulty in identifying and
expressing emotions (Parker, Taylor, & Bagby, 2001; Wang, 2014a).
Although a great deal of evidence has accumulated that emotional
intelligence may mediate the relation from childhood trauma to
smartphone addiction, to date, no studies have directly examined the
mediation process in adolescents. On the basis of previous work, we
propose our first hypothesis:
Hypothesis 1. Emotional intelligence mediates the association from
child neglect and psychological abuse to adolescent smartphone
addiction. Specifically, child neglect and psychological abuse
negatively predict emotional intelligence, which in turn increases the
risk of adolescent smartphone addiction.
2.3. The mediating role of coping style
Coping is the cognitive and behavioral attempting to manage the
demands created by stressful events that are evaluated as taxing and
exceeding one's resources (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984, p. 141). In line
with this framework, coping styles can be divided into problem-focused
coping and emotion-focused coping. Problem-focused coping is directed
towards solving problems, often including the strategies to solve pro-
blems directly or turn to social support (Compas, Conner-Smith,
Saltzman, Thomsen, & Wadsworth, 2001; Lazarus & Folkman, 1984).
Thus, for high problem-focused coping individuals, they tend to find
proper solutions by themselves or turn to social support (Compas,
Connor-Smith, Saltzman, Thomsen, & Wadsworth, 2001; Patterson &
McCubbin, 1987). Emotion-focused coping refers to the strategies that
help oneself palliate negative emotions, for example, denial or with-
drawal behavior. Therefore, high emotion-focused coping people tend
to escape from problems (Chen, Zheng, Pan, & Zheng, 2000; Compas
J. Sun et al.
et al., 2001; Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). It is worth noting that the two
types of coping styles are not totally opposite, instead, they present
different constructs of coping (Compas et al., 2001; Li, Zhang, et al.,
2016; Patterson & McCubbin, 1987).
Coping style has short-term effects on the resolution of stressful
events as well as long-term effects on mental health and adjustment
outcomes (Zhou, Li, Li, Wang, & Zhao, 2017). Moreover, although not
yet empirically tested, coping style might mediate the link between
child abuse and addictive behaviors. From the perspective of trauma-
informed approach, existing problems can be regarded as the outcomes
of maladaptive coping with unresolved traumatic experiences (Elliott,
Bjelajac, Fallot, Markoff, & Reed, 2005). To go further, coping and re-
silience model posits that coping is a key mechanism that explains how
childhood trauma history influences addictive behaviors (Goodman,
2017). Consistent with this framework, some indirect evidence verified
the mediating role of coping style in the link between childhood abuse
and adolescent addictive behaviors. On one hand, previous studies
suggested that child abuse and neglect might impact one's coping style.
Specifically, individuals with history of child abuse were more likely to
endorse emotion-focused coping and less likely to use problem-focused
coping (Hager and Runtz, 2012; Perlman, Dawson, Dardis, Egan, &
Anderson, 2016). On the other hand, recent research suggested that
coping style merited serious attention in adolescent addictive behaviors
(McNicol & Thorsteinsson, 2017; Walker & Stephens, 2014; Zhou, Li,
Jia, et al., 2017). For instance, McNicol and Thorsteinsson (2017) found
that maladaptive coping positively predicted internet addiction while
problem-focused coping was negatively associated with internet ad-
diction. Therefore, child abuse and neglect might influence one's coping
style, which consequently leads to addiction when coping is un-
successful.
To best of our knowledge, no studies have examined whether coping
style mediates the link between child abuse and adolescent smartphone
addiction. Combined with the preceding theories and models, we pro-
pose the second hypothesis:
Hypothesis 2. Coping style mediates the association from child neglect
and psychological abuse to adolescent smartphone addiction.
Specifically, child neglect and psychological abuse negatively predict
problem-focused coping, which in turn negatively predict adolescent
smartphone addiction. In contrast, child neglect and psychological
abuse positively predict emotion-focused coping, which in turn
positively predict adolescent smartphone addiction.
2.4. The multiple mediation model
The current study examined the mediating roles of both emotional
intelligence and coping style in the association between child abuse and
adolescent smartphone addiction. This integrated multiple mediation
model is capable of examining the multiple mechanisms underlying the
link from child neglect and psychological abuse to smartphone addic-
tion among Chinese adolescents (Hayes, 2013; Jia et al., 2017). As such,
the multiple mediation model is a crucial tool for the improvement of
theories, and the prevention as well as intervention of adolescent
smartphone addiction (Liu, Yang, et al., 2017).
Despite the scarcity of evidence of how the two mediators work
together, some empirical studies indirectly suggested the presence of
such mechanisms. The multiple mediation model developed by Hayes
(2013) suggested that two mediating factors might work together
through parallel, sequential, or mixed mediation. As has been discussed
above, emotional intelligence is one possible explanation for how child
abuse influences adolescent smartphone addiction, and coping may be
another possible explanation (e.g., Goodman, 2017; Wang, 2014a).
Thus, the relationship between child neglect and psychological abuse
and adolescent smartphone addiction can be mediated by both emo-
tional intelligence and coping style parallelly. In addition, some studies
provided indirect evidence that emotional intelligence and coping style
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Computers in Human Behavior 90 (2019) 74–83
might exert a sequential mediating effect on the link from child neglect
and psychological abuse to adolescent smartphone addiction (e.g.,
Saklofske, Austin, Galloway, & Davidson, 2007; Zeidner, Matthews, &
Roberts, 2006). Specifically, child neglect and psychological abuse first
lead to lower emotional intelligence, which in turn influences coping
style, allowing child neglect and psychological abuse to be a predictor
for smartphone addiction. It was suggested that emotional intelligence
could be treated as a coping mechanism that promoted efficient self-
regulation in stressful situations (Saklofske et al., 2007; Salovey, Bedell,
Detweiler, & Mayer, 2000). Emotionally intelligent individuals are
more likely to engage in effective coping, which in turn leads to more
positive outcomes (Zeidner et al., 2006). For instance, a study among
adolescents suggested that emotional intelligence positively predicted
problem-focused coping and negatively predicted emotion-focused
coping (MacCann, Fogarty, Zeidner, & Roberts, 2011). Another study
also found that emotional intelligence was negatively associated with
maladaptive coping and positively associated with adaptive coping
(Campbell & Ntobedzi, 2007). However, the strength and direction of
the relations between emotional intelligence and coping style differ
markedly depending on how emotional intelligence is measured and
how coping style is delineated (MacCann et al., 2011; Zeidner et al.,
2006).
Based on these previous studies that suggested a correlation be-
tween emotional intelligence and coping style, we therefore expect a
mixed mediation model and propose the third hypothesis:
Hypothesis 3. Emotional intelligence and coping style mediate the
association between child neglect and psychological abuse and
adolescent smartphone addiction not only parallelly but also
sequentially.
2.5. The present study
Taken together, the present study aims to test three research ques-
tions: (a) to examine the mediating role of emotional intelligence in the
link between child neglect and psychological abuse and adolescent
smartphone addiction; (b) to examine the mediating role of coping style
in the relation between child neglect and psychological abuse and
adolescent smartphone addiction; (c) to examine the two mediators
work through both parallel and sequential mediation. The conceptual
model is a multiple mediation model depicted in Fig. 1. Moreover, a
summary of the studies discussed in literature review can be found in
supplementary material, Table A1.
3. Method
3.1. Participants
Data for the current study were drawn from the first wave of an
ongoing longitudinal study, and this study was approved by the
Research Ethics Committee of the corresponding author's institution.
Participants were recruited from nine junior high schools in eight
provinces of China, including Anhui, Fujian, Henan, Hunan, Jiangxi,
Shanxi, Tianjing, and Yunnan. A total of 1041 students in seventh grade
completed the survey and 578 (55.52%) of the participants were males.
The mean age of the participants was 12.41 (SDage = 0.65,
range = 11–15). School administrators were contacted and the ap-
proval of this study was obtained from teachers and students prior to
participation, also, oral informed consent was obtained from the par-
ents of the participants. Having been informed of the voluntary nature
of the research, participants were sought responses about demographic
variables, child neglect and psychological abuse, emotional in-
telligence, coping style and smartphone addiction.
J. Sun et al.
Fig. 1. The proposed multiple mediation model.
3.2. Measures
3.2.1. Child neglect and psychological abuse
Child Psychological Abuse and Neglect Scale (Deng, Pan, Tang,
Yuan, & Xiao, 2007) was used to measure the severity of child neglect
and psychological abuse. This 31-item retrospective self-report instru-
ment assessed two types of child maltreatment: child neglect (17 items;
e.g., “My parents didn't care about my sleep quality”, “My parents didn't
answer my questions”) and psychological abuse (14 items; e.g., “My
parents read my diary without permission”, “My parents call my names
when I did not expect it”). All the items were worded in a mild style to
reduce possible harmful effects for participants. Participants were asked
to rate each statement using a 5-point scale (ranging from 0 = never to
4 = always) to indicate whether each event had occurred in their life.
Average scores of each subscale were computed with higher scores
referred to more server child maltreatment. Participants who scored no
less than one in the subscale were considered to display traits sug-
gesting they experienced child maltreatment without specifying the
severity (Deng et al., 2007). Good psychometric properties were re-
ported among Chinese samples (Deng et al., 2007). The index of CFA
showed a good fit: χ2/df = 3.14, RMSEA = 0.05, CFI = 0.93,
NFI = 0.90, GFI = 0.93. In present study, Cronbach's Alpha value for
the scale was 0.86.
3.2.2. Emotional intelligence
Adolescent emotional intelligence was assessed by the Emotional
Intelligence Scale designed for adolescents (Liu & Zou, 2010). This self-
report scale was comprised of 18 items (e.g., “It's hard for me to control
my own emotions”) that evaluated emotional intelligence on a 5-point
scale (ranging from 1 = not at all true to 5 = always true) to indicate
whether each item was true for them. This measure was used success-
fully among Chinese adolescents with great reliability and validity (Li,
2015; Liu & Zou, 2010). The index of CFA showed a good fit: χ2/
df = 3.60, RMSEA = 0.05, CFI = 0.95, NFI = 0.94, GFI = 0.95. Cron-
bach's Alpha in this study was 0.84.
3.2.3. Coping style
Adolescent coping style was measured using the Coping Style Scale
developed for middle school students (Chen et al., 2000). The 36-item
instrument consisted of two dimensions: problem-focused coping (19
items; e. g., “I turn to my classmates, parents or relatives to solve dif-
ficulties”) and emotion-focused coping (17 items; e. g., “I refuse to
believe that terrible things have happened”). Participants used a 4-point
scale (ranging from 1 = never to 4 = always) to indicate how often they
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Computers in Human Behavior 90 (2019) 74–83
use this kind of coping strategy. Mean scores of each dimension were
calculated and higher scores referred to more frequent use of the certain
coping style. The scale was used successfully in Chinese adolescents
(Mou, Liu, Zhuang, Wang, & Liu, 2016). The index of CFA showed a
good fit for both problem-focused coping subscale (χ2/df = 4.88,
RMSEA = 0.06, CFI = 0.92, NFI = 0.90, GFI = 0.93) and emotion-fo-
cused coping subscale (χ2/df = 3.50, RMSEA = 0.05, CFI = 0.92,
NFI = 0.89, GFI = 0.96). In present study, Cronbach's alphas were 0.90
and 0.82 for the two subscales, respectively.
3.2.4. Smartphone addiction
Adolescent smartphone addiction was assessed by the Smartphone
Addiction Scale (Su et al., 2014). The scale consisted of 22 items and a
representative item was “My classmates and friends often say that I
spend too much time on my smartphone”. Participants' answers to the
items were marked on a 5-point scale (ranging from 1 = not at all true to
5 = always true) to indicate how true each item was for them. The
scores across 22 items were averaged and higher scores represented
higher level of smartphone addiction. This measure demonstrated sa-
tisfactory reliability and validity among Chinese sample (Su et al.,
2014). The index of CFA showed a good fit: χ2/df = 4.82,
RMSEA = 0.06, CFI = 0.93, NFI = 0.92, GFI = 0.92. In present study,
Cronbach's Alpha of the scale was 0.93.
3.3. Statistical analysis
All analyses in present study were performed using SPSS 22.0 and
AMOS 21.0. For current study, the proportion of missing data was less
than 1% and mean imputation was used to handle them (Little & Rubin,
2002). We first used a factor analysis to conduct a common variance
analysis for detecting common method biases. Secondly, descriptive
statistics and correlations for our variables of interest and control
variables were presented. Thirdly, to test for discriminant validity, we
examined the chi-square difference between the values obtained for the
constrained and unconstrained models in AMOS 21.0 (Anderson &
Gerbing, 1988; Torkzadeh, Koufteros, & Pflughoeft, 2003). Finally, we
conducted a path analysis in AMOS 21.0 to test the multiple mediation
model. Adolescents' gender and age were controlled in the path analysis
because previous studies indicated that these demographics might have
an effect on adolescent smartphone addiction (Liu et al., b, 2017a; Li,
Zhou, et al., 2016, Li, Zhang, et al., 2016).
J. Sun et al. Computers in Human Behavior 90 (2019) 74–83

Table 1
Descriptive statistics and correlations between variables.
Variables M SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

1. Gender – – –
2. Age 12.41 0.65 0.08∗∗ –
3. CNAPA 1.33 0.57 0.07∗ 0.02 –
4. Emotional intelligence 3.44 0.63 −0.17∗∗∗ −0.02 −0.27∗∗∗ (1128.63)a –
5. Problem-focused coping 2.58 0.58 −0.12∗∗∗ −0.06 −0.30∗∗∗ (1832.96) 0.59∗∗∗ (260.64) –
6. Emotion-focused coping 1.92 0.46 −0.05 0.01 0.19∗∗∗ (1051.82) 0.04 (594.23) 0.25∗∗∗ (856.20) –
7. Smartphone addiction 2.09 0.78 0.07∗ 0.09∗∗ 0.23∗∗∗ (1667.14) −0.19∗∗∗ (591.24) −0.13∗∗∗ (1430.52) 0.35∗∗∗ (662.63) –

∗ ∗∗ ∗∗∗
Note. N = 1041. CNAPA = child neglect and psychological abuse. Gender was dummy coded such that male = 1 and female = 0. p < .05. p < .01. p < .001.
a
Chi-square differences for paired variables were provided in parentheses.

4. Results
4.1. Check for common method bias
The data of this study were all from self-report questionnaires.
Therefore, Harman's one factor test was applied to test common method
biases (Zhou & Long, 2004). The results of unrotated factor analysis
showed that 27 factors were generated and explained 75.29% of the
total variation. The first principal factor explained only 14.42% of the
variance, indicating that common method bias was not likely to be a
significant problem in this study.
4.2. Preliminary analyses
According to the criterion mentioned above, 796 of participants
(76.46%) in current study fell within this range for neglect and 535
(51.40%) for psychological abuse. Descriptive statistics and the corre-
lation matrix for all study variables were presented in Table 1. Corre-
lation analyses showed that child neglect and psychological abuse as
well as emotion-focused coping were positively associated with smart-
phone addiction, suggesting that they were risk factors for smartphone
addiction. However, emotional intelligence and problem-focused
coping were negatively correlated with smartphone addiction. In ad-
dition, emotional intelligence was negatively correlated with child ne-
glect and psychological abuse. Moreover, there was a positive asso-
ciation between problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping,
which was consistent with previous studies among Chinese adolescents
(Zhou, Li, Li, et al., 2017; Zhang, Wang, Xia, Liu, & Jung, 2012).
4.3. Discriminant validity
To test for discriminant validity, the chi-square differences between
the values obtained for the constrained (constraining the estimated
correlation parameter between paired latent variables to 1) and un-
constrained models were examined (Anderson & Gerbing, 1988;
Torkzadeh et al., 2003). Discriminant validity would prove to be good if
chi-square differences were significant. Table 1 presented the chi-
square differences, and showed that all chi-square differences were
significant (ps < 0.001), suggesting that the variables of interest re-
presented different constructs.
4.4. Testing for the proposed model
To test the mediation roles of emotional intelligence and two types
of coping style between child neglect and psychological abuse and
smartphone addiction, we conducted a path analysis in AMOS 21. Age
and gender were regarded as control variables in this model. The pro-
posed multiple mediation model (see Fig. 2) demonstrated sufficient
goodness of fit to the data, χ2/df = 4.95, CFI = 0.96, GFI = 0.99,
TLI = 0.92, RMSEA = 0.06. The results of path analysis (Fig. 2) showed
that child neglect and psychological abuse negatively predicted emo-
tional intelligence as well as problem-focused coping (β = −0.27,
p < .001, β = −0.15, p < .001, respectively), and positively pre-
dicted emotion-focused coping as well as smartphone addiction
(β = 0.22, p < .001, β = 0.09, p < .01, respectively). Emotional in-
telligence positively predicted emotion-focused coping as well as pro-
blem-focused coping (β = 0.09, p < .01, β = 0.55, p < .001, respec-
tively), and negatively predicted smartphone addiction (β = −0.10,
p < .01). Also, problem-focused coping negatively predicted smart-
phone addiction (β = −0.13, p < .001) while emotion-focused coping
positively predicted smartphone addiction (β = 0.37, p < .001).
The bias-corrected bootstrap procedure was used to test the sig-
nificance of mediating effects in the proposed model. For this, the in-
direct effects were estimated from the 5000 samples developed by
random assignment in the original data. The indirect effects would
prove to be statistically significant if 95% bootstrap confidence inter-
vals did not contain zero. Table 2 presented the mediating effects of the
model and their 95% confidence intervals, showing that all indirect
pathways were significant.
5. Discussion
The current study formulated a multiple mediation model to clarify
the mechanisms underlying the relation between child neglect and
psychological abuse and smartphone addiction among Chinese adoles-
cents. As expected, the results validated the mediating roles of emo-
tional intelligence and coping style in the association between child
neglect and psychological abuse and smartphone addiction.
In this study, 76.46% participants fell within the range for neglect
and 51.40% for psychological abuse. The prevalence rates seemed to be
higher than previous studies. For example, a national study concerning
child maltreatment showed that the prevalence rates of neglect ranged
from 66.5% to 69% (Hsieh et al., 2016). Also, previous meta-analyses
suggested that the prevalence rates ranged from 11.3% to 46.7% of
psychological abuse (Stoltenborgh, Bakermans-Kranenburg, Alink, &
IJzendoorn, 2014), and ranged from 6.5% to 40.0% for neglect
(Stoltenborgh, Bakermans-Kranenburg, & IJzendoorn, 2013). However,
several issues should be noted. First, unlike scales rated from one (e.g.,
Childhood Trauma Questionnaire; Bernstein & Fink, 1998) the current
scale for child neglect and psychological abuse was rated from
0 = never to 4 = always. And the criterion for child neglect and psy-
chological abuse referred to the occurrence without identifying the
severity. Second, compared to those studies with elementary or college
students as participants (e.g., Hsieh et al., 2016; Wang, 2014a, b), the
participants of present study were adolescents and their characteristics
should be noted. Adolescents become especially sensitive to their self
and the environment around them, because adolescence is truly a stage
for identity exploration and self development (Liu, Fang, Wan, & Zhou,
2016). For adolescents, much power and support are expected from
their parents. Therefore, adolescents might over-evaluate the severity of
parents' failure of satisfying their needs and respond with a complaining
response style (Sanders & Becker-Lausen, 1995), which could lead to
relatively higher prevalence rates for childhood maltreatment.

78
J. Sun et al. Computers in Human Behavior 90 (2019) 74–83

Fig. 2. Path analysis depicting direct and indirect effects of child neglect and psychological abuse on smartphone addiction. Standardized coefficients are presented.
Covariates were included in the model but are not presented for simplicity. Note. ∗p < .05, ∗∗p < .01, ∗∗∗p < .001. N = 1041.

Table 2 prefer online social interactions (Casale et al., 2013; Liu & Kuo, 2007;
The bootstrapping analysis of the mediation effects. Yu, Kim, & Hay, 2013). And the utility and hedonicity provided by
Pathways Standard 95% CI
smartphone might satisfy the needs of individuals (Shin, 2015), which
indirect in turn can increase the risk of smartphone addiction. From this per-
effects Lower Upper spective, smartphone addiction could be treated as a compensatory
response for adolescents to deal with unsatisfied interpersonal re-
CNAPA→emotional intelligence→smartphone 0.03 0.01 0.09
lationships in reality and negative emotions caused by low emotional
addiction
CNAPA→problem-focused 0.02 0.01 0.05 intelligence (Kardefelt-Winther, 2014; Liu et al., 2016).
coping→smartphone addiction
CNAPA→emotion-focused 0.08 0.07 0.15
coping→smartphone addiction 5.2. The mediating role of coping style
CNAPA→emotional 0.02 0.01 0.05
intelligence→problem-focused In line with Hypothesis 2, the results showed that coping style was
coping→smartphone addiction
another important mechanism through which child neglect and psy-
CNAPA→emotional −0.01 −0.02 −0.01
intelligence→emotion-focused chological abuse were associated with adolescent smartphone addic-
coping→smartphone addiction tion. In detail, child neglect and psychological abuse enhanced the risk
of adolescent smartphone addiction through increased emotion-focused
coping as well as decreased problem-focused coping. These findings
5.1. The mediating role of emotional intelligence support coping and resilience model, which suggests that coping is a
crucial mechanism to explain how childhood trauma history influences
Consistent with Hypothesis 1, the results illustrated that emotional addictive behaviors (Goodman, 2017). As such, coping style is not only
intelligence was a crucial explanatory mechanism through which child an outcome influenced by child abuse experiences, but also a factor that
neglect and psychological abuse were associated with adolescent influences the risk of smartphone addiction when faced with stress.
smartphone addiction. Specifically, childhood maltreatment negatively Individual links in this mediation model are also noteworthy. For
predicted emotionally intelligent skills and consequently increased the the first part of the mediation process (i.e., child neglect and psycho-
risk of smartphone addiction (Schimmenti et al., 2017; Perry, 2002; logical abuse → coping style), our findings are congruent with previous
Teicher et al., 2004; Wang, 2014a). Adolescents who score low on research which suggested that childhood maltreatment was associated
emotional intelligence often cannot effectively deal with emotion-re- with the less use of problem-focused coping and the greater use of
lated issues, which may lead to unpleasant peer relationships and more emotion-focused coping (e.g., Hager & Runtz, 2012). Children who are
interpersonal conflicts (Lopes, Salovey, & Straus, 2003; Mayer et al., abused may have experienced negative emotions in the relationships
2016). Hence, they are more likely to indulge in smartphones and turn with their neglectful caregivers. Since they usually had little knowledge
to anytime-anywhere internet connectivity to compensate for their so- about how to modify the awful situation at childhood, little could they
cial needs, which may finally cause smartphone addiction. do to solve the problems they face. Thus, they were more likely to use
In addition to overall mediation results, the individual links are emotion-focused coping and less likely to use problem-focused coping
noteworthy. For the first part of the mediation process (i.e., child ne- (MacCann et al., 2011). Consequently, the extinction of negative
glect and psychological abuse → emotional intelligence), our finding emotions through the use of emotion-focused coping was negatively
suggested that child neglect and psychological abuse negatively pre- reinforced, and individuals might maintain the use of emotion-focused
dicted emotional intelligence. Our finding is consistent with previous coping rather than problem-focused coping. For the second part of the
studies which suggested that childhood trauma could lead to a lack of mediation process (i.e., coping style → smartphone addiction), our
emotionally intelligent skills (e.g., Schimmenti et al., 2017). One pos- findings are consistent with previous studies that suggested a negative
sible explanation is that individuals with child abuse and neglect his- relationship between problem-focused coping and smartphone addic-
tory may not be encouraged to express their feelings, and they may tion as well as a positive relationship between emotion-focused coping
misinterpret emotions expressed by others as negative emotions or and smartphone addiction (e.g., Wang, 2014b). Behavioral addictions
potential danger cues (Kinniburgh, Blaustein, Spinazzola, & Van der such as smartphone addiction can be viewed as a stress-coping me-
Kolk, 2017). Therefore, child abuse and neglect negatively influence the chanism for adolescents (Kandell, 1998; Li, Zhang, et al., 2016). Since
development of emotionally intelligent skills. For the second part of the smartphones have become the most popular means of social interac-
mediation process (i.e., emotional intelligence → smartphone addic- tions and provide platforms for expressing emotions, adolescents with
tion), our finding is consistent with social skill model (Caplan, 2005), high level of emotion-focused coping might relive negative emotions
which indicates that people who lack emotionally intelligent skills via smartphones and consequently develop smartphone addiction (Lian

79
J. Sun et al.
et al., 2016). In contrast, problem-focused coping might reduce the risk
of smartphone addiction by reducing stressors in reality (Zhou, Li, Li,
et al., 2017). Although adolescents with high level of problem-focused
coping may seek information through smartphones, they are likely to
regard the smartphone as a tool to solve problems, which may prevent
them from smartphone addiction.
5.3. The multiple mediation model
Findings from the current study revealed that emotional intelligence
and coping style mediated the association between child neglect and
psychological abuse and smartphone addiction not only parallelly but
also sequentially, therefore, Hypothesis 3 was supported. One hand,
adolescents not only use smartphones to compensate unsatisfied social
caused by the lack of emotional intelligence (Caplan, 2005; Kardefelt-
Winther, 2014; Liu et al., 2016), but also view the smartphone as a
coping mechanism to alleviate negative emotions (Li, Zhang, et al.,
2016). On the other hand, the effect of child neglect and psychological
abuse on smartphone addiction was sequentially mediated by emo-
tional intelligence and coping style. As such, emotionally intelligent
skills can influence one's coping resources, and consequently influence
smartphone addiction. Interestingly, emotional intelligence positively
predicted both problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping.
These findings might counter to intuition since emotion-focused coping
is often regarded as a maladaptive coping in some studies (Maguire
et al., 2015). One possible explanation of our finding is that although
emotional intelligence helps individuals use effective coping strategies,
the effectiveness of coping is related to specific context and stressor
(Saklofske et al., 2007). From this perspective, problem-focused coping
helps reduce stressors and emotion-focused coping can also be effective
when negative emotion is aroused and little can be done to eliminate
the stressor (MacCann et al., 2011). Therefore, emotional intelligence
can positively predict both problem-focused and emotion-focused
coping. Another explanation is that individuals with high level of
emotional intelligence tend to be creative, flexible and concerned about
own emotions, and these tendencies can facilitate emotion-focused
coping (Carver & Connor-Smith, 2010; Salovey & Mayer, 1990; Zhou,
Li, Jia, et al., 2017). In addition, recent studies have demonstrated that
although emotional intelligence can be related to adaptive outcomes, it
may confer vulnerability for problem behaviors in some contexts (Davis
& Nichols, 2016). Consistent with this perspective, our findings re-
vealed that although emotional intelligence could negatively predict
smartphone addiction, it might have both beneficial and adverse effects
on adolescent smartphone addition. Specifically, emotional intelligence
can decrease the risk of smartphone addiction through increased pro-
blem-focused coping. On the other hand, emotional intelligence may
promote emotion-focused coping to deal with highly emotion-related
issues, which in turn increases the risk of smartphone addiction.
Notably, emotional intelligence and coping style only partially
mediated the relation between child neglect and psychological abuse
and smartphone addiction. The remaining direct effect of child neglect
and psychological abuse on smartphone addiction indicated that child
abuse and neglect could function as direct risk factors for smartphone
addiction. In the light of self-medication hypothesis (Khantzian, 1985),
it is reasonable to put that multiple functions of smartphones provide
adolescents who survive childhood maltreatment with efficient means
to escape from the painful states and to benefit from online social
support. This short-term comfort from smartphone increases the like-
lihood of being addicted to smartphones.
5.4. Limitations
As with all research, the findings of the present study should be
interpreted in light of some limitations. First, we cannot conclude
causal relationships among the variables for the cross-sectional nature
of current study. Further longitudinal studies are needed to better
80
Computers in Human Behavior 90 (2019) 74–83
clarify the relations among present variables and examine this multiple
mediation model. Second, because of the self-report nature of the
questionnaires, the accuracy of individual reports might be influenced
by factors such as social desirability. Especially, some researchers
suggested that participants might exaggerate or underreport their
childhood experiences (Sanders & Becker-Lausen, 1995). Likewise, al-
though self-report questionnaires were widely used in measuring child
maltreatment, the prevalence rates for self-report studies were higher
than that for informant studies (Stoltenborgh, Bakermans‐Kranenburg,
Alink, & IJzendoorn, 2014). Moreover, the voluntary participation
might introduce selection bias. Hence, future studies are supposed to
collect data from multiple approaches and examine whether the results
were stable across various measures. Third, based on previous research
(e.g., Schimmenti et al., 2017), the scores of child neglect and psy-
chological abuse were summed to represent childhood maltreatment,
although it was reasonable, some researchers suggested that different
types of child maltreatment may function differently in the develop-
ment of smartphone addiction (Wang, 2014a). Therefore, future studies
may benefit from exploring the effects of different types of childhood
maltreatment on smartphone addiction. Finally, accounting for the
context-specific nature of coping effectiveness (MacCann et al., 2011),
future study is needed to examine the relationships between emotional
intelligence, coping style and smartphone addiction under different
contexts.
5.5. Implications
In spite of these limitations, the present study has offered a multiple
mediation model, showing how child neglect and psychological abuse
influence adolescent smartphone addiction. Our findings advance our
understanding of smartphone addiction and have significant theoretical
and practical implications.
5.5.1. Theoretical implications
Previous works highlighted childhood maltreatment as a crucial
predictor for technology addiction (Arslan, 2017; Schimmenti et al.,
2017; Worsley, McIntyre, Bentall, & Corcoran, 2018), and the present
study contributes to this line of research by examining the link between
child neglect and psychological abuse and adolescent smartphone ad-
diction. We further extend the literature theoretically by revealing the
mediating roles of emotional intelligence and coping style in the child
abuse and smartphone addiction path. The exploration of psychological
processes underlying one's uses of the smartphones can provide us with
better understanding of smartphone addiction (Shin & Biocca, 2018).
Our study suggested that risky families model could be applied to
the research field of smartphone addiction. In risky families model
(Repetti et al., 2002), emotion-related factors and stress-coping strate-
gies are viewed as important mediators to explain how adverse child-
hood experiences lay groundwork for long-term behavioral problems.
Adolescents with a history of child abuse may have deficits in emo-
tionally intelligent skills as well as effective coping strategies, and they
may use smartphones to relieve negative emotions as well as escape
from stressful reality. From this perspective, smartphone addiction may
represent a compensatory method for emotional and social deficits as
well as a self-medication process for painful experiences (Khantzian,
1985; Repetti et al., 2002). Moreover, future studies about the ante-
cedents of smartphone addiction may benefit from paying attention to
individual factors (such as emotional intelligence and coping style in
the present study), because individual factors can largely influence how
individuals interact with technology (Shin, 2018).
5.5.2. Practical implications
Our findings also have several practical implications for preventing
and intervening smartphone addiction among adolescents. First, our
findings indicated that childhood maltreatment positively predicted
smartphone addition. Therefore, child abuse experiences can be viewed
J. Sun et al.
as crucial targets for preventive efforts to adolescents smartphone ad-
diction. Specifically, early intervention for child abuse may prevent
adolescents from problem behaviors such as smartphone addiction, and
interventions for adolescents should get caregivers involved (Liu et al.,
2015; Taylor & Stanton, 2007). Second, the present study validated the
mediating role of emotional intelligence in the link between childhood
maltreatment and smartphone addiction. Therefore, it is essential to
foster emotional intelligence among adolescence, and thus preventing
adolescents from maladaptive outcomes such as smartphone addiction.
Although emotional intelligence seems to be stable, it can be rooted in
emotional skills such as emotion regulation and emotion expression
(Mayer et al., 2004; Salovey & Mayer, 1990). Specifically, practitioners
can give short lectures about emotional intelligence and teach adoles-
cents how to express or regulate emotions based on relevant theories
(Nelis, Quoidbach, Mikolajczak, & Hansenne, 2009). Third, we found
that coping style was another mediator between childhood maltreat-
ment and smartphone addiction. In this context, caregivers and prac-
titioners should create a supportive environment, which might have
positive effects on adolescents' coping resources and consequently re-
duce the risk of smartphone addiction (Taylor & Stanton, 2007).
Moreover, enhancing specific coping skills might be more effective than
changing personal dispositions directly (Taylor & Stanton, 2007). For
example, coping effectiveness training (CET) was proven to be an ef-
fective way to promote effective coping (Folkman et al., 1991), and
practitioners might take this method to help adolescents with coping
deficits. Since adolescence is a stage where adolescents may gradually
separate from family and develop social community with peers
(Patterson & McCubbin, 1987), it is particularly significant to help
adolescents acquire the knowledge of how to turn to social support and
balance one's emotions properly. How to use smartphones to cope with
emotions and daily problems without excessively depending on them
might be a focus in the intervention of smartphone addiction.
6. Conclusions
In summary, although with some limitations, the current study took
a critical step in examining the multiple mediation model through
which child neglect and psychological abuse was associated with ado-
lescent smartphone addiction. We conclude that emotional intelligence
and coping style serve as the potential mechanism by which child ne-
glect and psychological abuse are linked with smartphone addiction
among Chinese adolescents. Specifically, emotional intelligence and
coping style mediate the association between child neglect and psy-
chological abuse and adolescent smartphone addiction not only paral-
lelly but also sequentially.
Conflicts of interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds of
Central China Normal University (CCNU17TS0008), the Open project of
Hubei Key Laboratory of Human Development and Mental Health
(Central China Normal University) (20160402) and the Education
Sciences Planning project of Hubei province(2017GB004). The funders
had no role in study design, collection, analysis or interpretation of the
data, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. We also
thank all the participants in this study.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data related to this article can be found at https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2018.08.032.
81
Computers in Human Behavior 90 (2019) 74–83
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