The association between online risk exposure and mental health in junior high school students: A person-centered perspective

Abstract: This study aims to explored the association between the potential categories of online risk exposure and the mental health of Junior high School students. A sample of 1178 Junior high school students was recruited in the study to complete the Online Risk Exposure Scale, Anxiety Scale, Depression Scale, Insomnia Severity Index Scale, Self-esteem Scale and Subjective Well-being Scale. The results found that female, family economically disadvantaged and academically struggling Junior high school students have higher mental disturbance; The results found that there were three potential categories of online risk exposure, security group, harmful content exposure group, and risk group; The three categories differed in their performance in mental health. In terms of depression, anxiety, and sleep disturbance, the risk group scored the highest, followed by the harmful content exposure group, and the security group scored the lowest. In terms of self-esteem and Subjective well-being, the security group scored the highest, followed by the harmful content exposure group, and the risk group scored the lowest. This indicates that there is significant group heterogeneity in online risk exposure among Junior high school students. In the future, phased prevention can be carried out according to the characteristics of different populations.