Cyber addiction in adolescents as a manifestation and maintaining factor of stress disorders in emergency situations

Abstract

In the context of increasing frequency of emergency situations (pandemics, natural disasters, technological accidents, social conflicts), the problem of adolescent mental health becomes particularly acute. The digital environment, being a natural living space for the younger generation, simultaneously becomes an arena for the development of addictive mechanisms that can exacerbate post-traumatic stress. This article presents a theoretical analysis of the phenomenon of cyber addiction in adolescents as a specific manifestation of stress disorders and simultaneously a factor that maintains and enhances psychopathological symptomatology in emergency situations.

The paper examines the main theoretical models explaining the comorbidity of Internet addiction and post-traumatic stress disorder, including the Compensatory Internet Use Theory and the Interaction of Person-Affect-Cognition-Execution model. Special attention is paid to the analysis of recent empirical studies demonstrating bidirectional relationships between cyber addiction and stress disorders. Based on the analysis of contemporary longitudinal studies, the role of life satisfaction and self-organization disturbances as key mediators of the studied relationships is substantiated. The practical significance of the work lies in identifying targets for psychological intervention for adolescents who have experienced emergency situations and show signs of cyber addiction, as well as in substantiating the need for a differentiated approach to psychocorrectional work considering the level of Internet addiction and dominant symptomatology.