AccScience Publishing / HPR / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/hpr.0395
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RESEARCH ARTICLE

The relationship between social exclusion and internet addiction among Chinese secondary vocational school students: The mediating role of resilience

Ruichen Jiang1,2,3* ,  Fei Xie4
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1 School of Education Science, Anqing Normal University, Anqing, Anhui, China
2 Student Affairs Office, Anqing Normal University, Anqing, Anhui, China
3 Institute of Educational Neuroscience, Anqing Normal University, Anqing, Anhui, China
4 School of Foreign Languages, Anqing Normal University, Anqing, Anhui, China
HPR, 0395 https://doi.org/10.36922/hpr.0395
Received: 20 November 2025 | Revised: 5 April 2026 | Accepted: 27 April 2026 | Published online: 24 June 2026
© 2026 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution -Noncommercial 4.0 International License (CC-by the license) ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ )
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Abstract

Background

Social exclusion is a common experience among adolescents, particularly in vocational education settings, and has been linked to various behavioral problems. However, the mechanisms underlying the relationship between social exclusion and internet addiction remain underexplored.

Objective

This study investigates the impact of social exclusion on internet addiction among Chinese secondary vocational school students and examines the mediating role of resilience in this relationship.

Methods

A total of 1,128 Chinese secondary vocational school students were surveyed using the Social Exclusion Scale, the Resilience Scale for Adolescents, and the Internet Addiction Test.

Results

Social exclusion was significantly negatively correlated with resilience (r = –0.608, p < 0.001) and significantly positively correlated with internet addiction (r = 0.468, p < 0.001). Resilience was significantly negatively correlated with internet addiction (r = –0.640, p < 0.001). Resilience partially mediated the relationship between social exclusion and internet addiction (indirect effect = 0.547, accounting for 72.4% of the total effect).

Conclusion

Social exclusion increases the risk of internet addiction by eroding psychological resilience.

Keywords
Secondary vocational school students
Social exclusion
Internet addiction
Resilience
Mediation
Funding
This research was supported by the Anhui Philosophy and Social Science Fund Project (No. AHSKQ2021D46) (China).
Conflict of interest
The authors declared no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this paper.
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