Linking childhood emotional maltreatment to social media addiction: a network perspective on executive function and physical activity

Abstract

Objective To examine the association between childhood emotional maltreatment and social media addiction among university students, assess the indirect role of executive function and variation across levels of physical activity, and identify key features of the item-level network. Methods Cross-sectional data were collected from 1,978 university students, who completed measures of childhood emotional maltreatment, executive function, social media addiction, and physical activity frequency over the previous 7 days. Models 4 and 8 of the SPSS PROCESS macro tested mediation and moderated mediation after adjustment for demographic covariates. Network analysis estimated item-level conditional associations and identified key nodes. Results Childhood emotional maltreatment was positively associated with social media addiction. Executive function partially mediated this association, with an indirect effect of 0.173 accounting for 50.29% of the total effect. Interactions between childhood emotional maltreatment and physical activity were significant for executive function and social media addiction. At higher physical activity frequency, the positive direct association between childhood emotional maltreatment and social media addiction was weaker, whereas the negative association between childhood emotional maltreatment and executive function was stronger. In the item-level network, the strongest negative connection between childhood emotional maltreatment and executive function linked perceived hatred and emotional harm from family members to impulsive behavior without considering consequences. The strongest negative connection between executive function and social media addiction linked forgetting assigned tasks to functional impairment from excessive social media use. The emotional abuse item had the highest node strength and bridge strength, the working-memory item had the highest closeness centrality, and the social media addiction item reflecting an increasing urge to use social media had the highest one-step bridge expected influence. Conclusions Childhood emotional maltreatment was associated with higher social media addiction, with poorer executive function statistically accounting for part of this association. Higher physical activity frequency was associated with a weaker positive direct association between childhood emotional maltreatment and social media addiction, but did not show a comparable buffering pattern for executive function. Emotional harm within the family, difficulties in inhibitory control and working memory, and an increasing urge to use social media were salient features of the item-level network.