Cumulative Ecological Risk and Chinese Adolescent Internet Addiction During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Mediating Role of Self-Control and the Moderating Role of Negotiable Fate

Abstract

ABSTRACT On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that the COVID-19 epidemic was declared an international public health emergency. Since that time, the epidemic has had a significant impact on the psychological and behavioral adaptation of individuals worldwide. To explore the mediating role of self-control and the moderating role of negotiation fate in the relationship between cumulative ecological risk and adolescent internet addiction during the COVID-19 pandemic, cumulative ecological risk questionnaires were administered to 637 junior high school students, including the Self-Control scale, Negotiable Fate scale, and Internet Addiction scale. The results showed that (1) cumulative ecological risk was significantly positively correlated with internet addiction; (2) self-control mediated the relationship between cumulative work risk and internet addiction; and (3) both the direct effect of cumulative ecological risk on internet addiction and the first half of the indirect effect of affect self-control were moderated by negotiable fate. Our results may help us better understand the relationship between cumulative ecological risk and internet addiction during the COVID-19 pandemic.