Despite the escalating public concern about pathological use of the Internet among youth, little research has investigated the longitudinal trajectory of the problem and the role of peer support in it. This study aimed to determine the growth trajectory of pathological Internet use (PIU), identify latent subgroups presenting heterogeneous growth trajectories of PIU, and examine the initial status of and the rate of change in peer support as predictors of the growth trajectory of PIU among children and adolescents. Using four-wave longitudinal data from 3,079 Singaporean youth at ages 7–19, we performed Latent Growth Curve Modeling, Latent Class Growth Analysis and Latent Growth Mixture Modeling. Results revealed a downward trajectory of PIU among youth. We identified six latent subgroups, three of which were in pathological status for at least a year. The more rapid improvement in peer support, but not the initial level of peer support, predicted the faster reduction of PIU symptoms during the 3-year period. Findings suggest that although the symptoms of PIU among children and adolescents would decline over time, improving peer support could further alleviate youth PIU. We recommended that intervention programs include a peer support component to mitigate PIU among youth.

中文翻译：

---

同伴支持在青少年病态互联网使用增长轨迹中的作用：保护因素

尽管公众越来越关注年轻人对互联网的病态使用，但很少有研究调查该问题的纵向轨迹以及同伴支持在其中的作用。本研究旨在确定病理性互联网使用 (PIU) 的成长轨迹，识别呈现出 PIU 异质成长轨迹的潜在亚组，并检查同伴支持的初始状态和变化率作为儿童 PIU 成长轨迹的预测因子。和青少年。使用来自 3,079 名 7-19 岁新加坡青年的四波纵向数据，我们进行了潜在增长曲线建模、潜在类别增长分析和潜在增长混合建模。结果显示，青年人的 PIU 呈下降趋势。我们确定了六个潜在的亚组，其中三个处于病理状态至少一年。同伴支持的改善越快，而不是同伴支持的初始水平，预测 PIU 症状在 3 年期间的减少越快。研究结果表明，尽管儿童和青少年的 PIU 症状会随着时间的推移而下降，但改善同伴支持可以进一步缓解青年 PIU。我们建议干预计划包括同伴支持部分，以减轻青年的 PIU。