Abstract
The association between perfectionism and addictive behaviors has been examined in previous literature; however, few pieces of research have investigated the mediating and moderating mechanisms underlying this relationship. Using a sample of 2016 Chinese college students, the present study examined the mediator of depression between maladaptive perfectionism and Internet addiction and the moderator of gender in such associations. The findings indicated that maladaptive perfectionism was directly related to students’ Internet addiction and indirectly predicted students’ Internet addiction via the mediator of depression. Gender moderated the direct effect, rather than the indirect effect, of maladaptive perfectionism on Internet addiction. Even though males reported a lower score on Internet addiction compared to females, the effect of maladaptive perfectionism on Internet addiction was stronger for males than for females. These findings revealed the psychological mechanisms from perfectionism to Internet addiction, which contributed to the theoretical development in addiction research and provided implications for interventions to reduce Internet addiction among Chinese college students.
Highlights
With the rapid popularization of smartphones, Internet accessibility has become widespread
We found that maladaptive perfectionism was positively correlated with depression (r = 0.330, p < 0.01) and Internet addiction (IA) (r = 0.295, p < 0.01)
The results of the independent-sample t test are presented in Table 3, which demonstrate the gender differences in the independent, dependent (IA), and mediating variables
Summary
With the rapid popularization of smartphones, Internet accessibility has become widespread. Internet users reached 3.9 billion worldwide, and the rate of Internet use increased from 7.7% to 45.3% between 2005 and 2018 in developing countries [1]. People’s daily life has become inseparable from the Internet, especially for college students who have grown up in the Internet era [3]. The Internet was widely used by college students for multiple purposes such as learning, entertainment, and communication. The increased availability and regular access to the Internet might facilitate excessive Internet use, which was proven to be a potential risk factor for the development of Internet addiction (IA) [3,4]
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