An analysis of the brain structures underlying the link between pathological Internet use and anxiety

Abstract

Pathological Internet use (PIU) is associated with various maladaptive problems and is becoming increasingly common among adolescents. Anxiety has been discovered as an important predictor of PIU, with the neural basis underlying the link between these two variables remaining unclear. In this study, PIU variations, individual anxiety levels, and T1-weighted structural magnetic resonance images (MRI) were collected from 95 healthy male adolescents. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) was then applied to identify the brain regions related to individual variations in PIU, with mediation analyses being conducted to explore the relationship between brain structure, anxiety, and PIU. The results revealed that the PIU tendency is positively correlated with regional grey matter density (rGMD) in the right inferior parietal lobe (IPL), which is known to be involved in inhibitory control. Furthermore, the mediation analysis revealed that the rGMD in the right IPL mediates the association between anxiety and PIU, which is consistent with the mood enhancement theory and the Interaction of Person-Affect-Cognition-Execution (I-PACE) model. This mediation model suggests that individuals with higher anxiety might be more likely to use the Internet, with the rGMD in the right IPL being where the underlying cognitive mechanism of the relationship between these two variables lies. This study’s findings possess implications for society’s understandings of the correlations between anxiety and PIU from a brain structural perspective, which may then help in preventing the progression of PIU among adolescents.