Severity of dissociative experiences and emotion dysregulation mediate the relationship between childhood trauma and Internet addiction symptom severity among young adults

Objective: The first aim of the present study was to evaluate the relationship between childhood trauma and Internet addiction (IA) symptom severity. The second aim was to evaluate the mediator effects of dissociative experiences and emotion dysregulation on this relationship. Method: We conducted the study using an online survey with 920 university student participants. Participants were evaluated with the Internet Addiction Test (IAT), Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES), Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ-28), and Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS). Results: Compared with participants evidencing low IA risk (n=806, 87.6%), those with high IA risk (n=114, 12.4%) had a longer duration of daily Internet use and a higher rate of problems related to Internet use. The high IA risk group was connected to the Internet less through a smartphone and more through computer use. In addition, scale scores (DES, DERS and CTQ-28) were higher among the group with high IA risk. Scale scores were mildly to moderately correlated with each other. In linear regression analysis, childhood trauma (particularly emotional abuse and physical neglect) was related to severity of IA symptoms. Severity of dissociative experiences and emotion dysregulation mediated the childhood trauma-IA symptom relationship. Conclusion: These findings suggest relations between the severity of childhood trauma, particularly emotional abuse and physical neglect dimensions, and severity of IA symptoms among Turkish young adults. Severity of dissociative experiences and emotion dysregulation may also partially mediate this relationship.