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Background In recent years, the issue of problematic Internet pornography use (PIPU) among adolescents has become increasingly prominent, attracting widespread attention from society. Family functioning has been recognized as a protective factor for PIPU, but the underlying mediating and moderating mechanisms remain unclear. The purpose of this study is (a) to investigate the mediating role of self-esteem in the relationship between family functioning and PIPU, and (b) to examine the moderating role of the need to belong in this mediating pathway. Methods A total of 771 high school students ( M age = 16.19, SD = 0.90) were surveyed using the Problematic Internet Pornography Use Scale, Family Assessment Device, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and the Need to Belong Scale. Results Correlation analysis showed a significant negative correlation between family functioning and PIPU ( r = −0.25, p 0.001), a significant positive correlation between self-esteem and family functioning ( r = 0.38, p 0.001), a significant negative correlation between self-esteem and PIPU ( r = −0.24, p 0.001), and a significant positive correlation between need to belong and PIPU ( r = 0.16, p 0.01). Mediation analysis showed that self-esteem partially mediated the relationship between family functioning and PIPU, with a mediation effect of −0.06. Further moderated mediation analysis showed that for adolescents with higher need to belong, the mediating effect of self-esteem was stronger. Conclusions For adolescents with high belonging needs who are at high risk for PIPU, good family functioning may have a protective effect by boosting self-esteem.
Li et al. (Thu,) studied this question.