Problematic Internet Use Behavior Research Articles

The relationship between physical exercise and problematic internet use in college students: the chain-mediated role of self-control and loneliness

ObjectiveFrom the perspective of exercise psychology, to investigate the antefacts of problematic internet use (PIU) in college students, and to reveal the chain mediating effect of self-control and loneliness between physical exercise and PIU.Methods1081 college students in Chongqing, China were investigated by Physical Activity Rating Scale (PARS-3), Self-control Scale (SCS), Loneliness Scale (UCLA), and Internet Addiction Scale (CIAS-R), and the data were statistically analyzed by SPSS25.0 and AMOS21.0 software.Results(1) There was a significant negative correlation between physical exercise and PIU, and the former has a direct negative predictive effect on the latter. (2) Physical exercise could indirectly influence the PIU of college students through the partial mediating effect of self-control and loneliness, respectively. (3) Physical exercise could also indirectly influence PIU through the chain mediation of “self-control → loneliness”.ConclusionMaintaining regular physical exercise can promote the improvement of self-control and the weakening of the loneliness experience of college students, and then help to prevent or alleviate PIU behavior, which is of great significance for psychological and behavioral health.

Association Between Problematic Internet Use and Health Risks in Adolescents With and Without Chronic Health Conditions

Background. Sedentary and unhealthy lifestyle behaviors are modifiable health risks that often develop during adolescence. A comprehensive analysis of unhealthy behaviors in adolescents with and without chronic health conditions (CHC) could inform the development of more effective prevention approaches.
 The aim. This study aimed to measure associations between Problematic Internet Use (PIU), lifestyle habits and subjective health complaints among adolescents with and without CHC. In addition, health behaviors and prevalence of subjective health complaints between adolescents with and without CHC were compared.
 Methods. A total of 171 adolescents (87 without CHC and 84 with CHC) completed an online survey. The PIU was assessed by the Problematic and Risky Internet Use Screening Scale. The subjective health complaints assessed were somatic and psychological symptoms. Healthy lifestyle behaviors assessed were daily physical activities, time spent by screens, eating habits, and duration of sleep.
 Results. The results showed that 21.83% of adolescents with CHC and 36.78% without CHC scored at risk for problematic internet use. Adolescents without CHC reported significantly more frequent psychological health complaints than their peers with CHC. This study found that multiple health complaints and unhealthy eating habits were significantly associated with PIU in adolescents with CHC, while nervousness and eating fast food in adolescents without CHC. Girls without CHC reported significantly higher PRIUSS scores and prevalence of subjective health complaints than boys (p <.05).
 Conclusions. Adolescents without CHC reported significantly higher levels of moderate and vigorous intensity physical activities weekly than their peers with CHC. PIU behaviors are mainly associated with psychological health complaints and unhealthy eating behaviors in adolescents with and without CHC. These findings highlight the need to identify the specific problematic internet use activities that are associated with different health risks in adolescents.
 Keywords: problematic internet use, chronic health conditions, lifestyle behaviors, health, adolescents.

Examining Online Behaviors of Young Adults During the Covid-19 Pandemic Social Isolation Period with Regard to Life Satisfaction, Loneliness, and Hostility.

The Covid-19 pandemic exposed individuals to intense restrictions and social isolation, as well as the possibility of deterioration of physical health. In the pandemic period, the Internet has become the principal avenue for social interaction, leisure related activities, and school-work pursuits for most people and consequently problematic Internet use (PIU) has increased dramatically in this period. Modeling of PIU among university students - considered one of the most negatively affected groups at this time - along with PIU subconstructs as well as indicators of psychological well-being - life satisfaction, loneliness, and hostility - will be valuable in directing future studies. This study examined the effects of the psychological well-being indicators of life satisfaction, loneliness, and hostility on PIU constructs; the preference for online social interaction, Internet use for mood regulation, and deficient self-regulation of Internet use during the Covid-19 pandemic social isolation period. Participants were 418 undergraduate students from a public university (130 male and 288 female). Results revealed that young adults with low life satisfaction have been more likely to problematically use the Internet to regulate their mood during the Covid-19 pandemic. Hostility and loneliness between which there is a moderately strong direct relationship, were similarly related to deficiently self-regulated Internet use. Moreover, individuals experiencing feelings of loneliness are more likely to use the Internet problematically for online social interaction purposes, while those experiencing feelings of hostility are more likely to use it problematically for mood regulation purposes. Given the significant relationships between indicators of psychological well-being and PIU, higher education institutions should take measures to prevent PIU behaviors in their students in case they face potential periods of social isolation.

The Effect of Primary and Middle School Teachers' Problematic Internet Use and Fear of COVID-19 on Psychological Need Thwarting of Online Teaching and Psychological Distress.

Problematic Internet use (PIU) is a risk factor for psychological distress during COVID-19, as teachers are a psychologically vulnerable population. We explored the role of PIU in terms of primary and middle school teachers’ fear of COVID-19 and psychological need thwarting (PNT) of online teaching. We empirically evaluated the relationships among these research variables in explaining teachers’ psychological distress during COVID-19. Online survey data were collected from 9030 teachers. A high proportion of participants demonstrated psychological distress: depression (20.4%), anxiety (26.4%), and stress (10.2%). Structural equation modeling was used to test our proposed conceptual model, wherein PIU behaviors served as predictors, mediated by fear of COVID-19 and PNT of online teaching, for teachers’ psychological distress. With ideal model fit, the results of the path coefficients indicated that PIU behaviors were associated with fear of COVID-19 (p < 0.001); fear of COVID-19 and PNT of online teaching were associated with psychological distress (p < 0.001); and fear of COVID-19 was also positively associated with PNT of online teaching (p < 0.001). PSU and PSMU had an indirect positive effect on psychological distress through the mediator of fear of COVID-19 and PNT of online teaching. As such, we suggest that school administrators pay greater attention to teachers’ psychological needs through efforts to enhance teachers’ autonomy and relatedness from interpersonal relationships, alleviating PNT of online teaching. Our PNT of online teaching scale may also serve as a contribution for further research and practice.

The Associations Between Problematic Internet Use, Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors and Health Complaints in Adolescents

This study aimed to explore relationship between problematic internet use (PIU), healthy lifestyle behaviors and subjective health complaints.Methods: Participants (396 adolescents, aged 11–18 years) from 34 general education schools across Latvia completed online survey. The PIU was assessed by the Problematic and Risky Internet Use Screening Scale (PRIUSS) collecting data on social impairment, emotional impairment, and risky/impulsive internet use. The subjective health complaints assessed were somatic and psychological symptoms. Healthy lifestyle behaviors assessed were daily physical activities, time spent in using information technologies (IT), eating habits, and duration of sleep.Results: This study found that 31.00% (n = 124) of the participants scored at risk for PIU. Correlates associated with PIU were subjective health complaints, low physical activity, lack of meals together with family and disturbed sleeping regimes on weekends (P &amp;lt; 0.001). Stepwise multiple regression analyses showed that 34% of the variance in the PRIUSS scores was explained by psychological health complaints (irritability, depression, and nervousness), screen time use on weekends, physical activity, drinking sweetened soft drinks and unhealthy eating habits.Conclusion: PIU behaviors among adolescents in Latvia are associated with psychological symptoms and unhealthy lifestyle. Further effective measures and interventions are needed to prevent development of psychosomatic health problems.

The effectiveness of prevention programs for problematic Internet use in adolescents and youths: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Problematic Internet use (PIU) can lead to dysfunction and undesired consequences, especially in adolescents and youths. Preventive interventions can reduce them, but should be built on sound evidence. This review synthesizes the available evidence on the effectiveness of primary prevention programs for PIU in adolescents and youths. It adds to previous reviews by broadening the search to general and specific problematic behavior. Two independent reviewers performed a systematic search for published studies on PIU and internet addiction in English, French and Spanish using PubMed, PsycINFO, Cochrane Register of Controlled Trials, and Scopus. Published experimental and quasi-experimental studies that assessed the effectiveness of primary prevention programs targeting PIU behaviors were considered for inclusion. Full texts for eligible studies were retrieved and assessed for quality. Five studies were retained for narrative synthesis. Three of them based the intervention strategy on an underlying theory, one on media literacy, and one used an educational-based approach. A meta-analysis showed that all five interventions were effective in preventing internet addiction separately. However, when using the Hartung-Knapp-Sidik-Jonkman (HKSJ) estimator and removing one of the studies because of a disproportionate Hedges’ g, combined effects were no longer significant. Although PIU is a popular topic, little is known about ways to prevent it. This review demonstrates that prevention programs can be based on different theoretical approaches, but that the available evidence is too heterogeneous to derive generalizable conclusions concerning their effectiveness.

Deficits in executive functions but not in decision making under risk in individuals with problematic social-network use

BackgroundThe tendency to strive for immediate gratification by neglecting potential negative long-term outcomes characterizes addictive behaviors, such as substance use or gaming disorder. Problematic social-network use is currently discussed as another potential addictive behavior, which is considered to result from an imbalance between affective and cognitive processes, indicated by traits such as increased impulsivity and/or decreased executive functions and decision-making abilities. MethodsThis study investigates the respective functions in social-network users by use of the Cards and Lottery Task (CLT) – a decision-making task under risk conditions in which options contain conflicting immediate and long-term outcomes at the same time. A sample of German and Spanish participants (N = 290) performed the CLT as well as the Modified Card Sorting Test (MCST), Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS), the short Internet Addiction Test specified for social-networking (sIAT-SNS), and screeners on other potentially problematic behaviors. ResultsComparing extreme groups based on sIAT-SNS scores (1SD above/below mean), individuals with problematic social-network use (n = 56), as compared to those with non-problematic social-network use (n = 50), showed increased attentional impulsivity and reduced executive functions. No differences were observed in decision-making performance. ConclusionThe findings indicate that problematic social-network use is related to attentional rather than general decision-making deficits. Furthermore, problematic social-network use is likely to co-occur with other problematic Internet-use behaviors, particularly gaming or shopping.

Problematic Internet Use, Related Psychosocial Behaviors, Healthy Lifestyle, and Subjective Health Complaints in Adolescents

Objective: In this study, we explored Internet use-associated psychosocial behavior problems in relationship to adolescents’ subjective health complaints and healthy lifestyle habits. Methods: A cross-sectional sample of Latvian adolescents (N = 570, age range 11-19 years) completed a survey. Problematic Internet use (PIU) was assessed by the Problematic and Risky Internet Use Screening Scale (PRIUSS) that measures social impairment, emotional impairment, and risky/impulsive Internet use. Subjective health complaints assessed were somatic complaints and psychological complaints. Healthy lifestyle behaviors assessed were daily physical activity, time spent using information technologies (IT), eating habits, and sleep duration. Results: We found that 27.02 % (N = 154) of the participants scored at risk for PIU with significantly higher PIU mean scores in 15-16-year-old girls (p &lt;.05). Also, 15-16-year-old girls reported significantly higher prevalence of subjective health symptoms than boys and girls in other age groups (p &lt; .05). There were statistically significant associations between PIU-related psychosocial behaviors and subjective health complaints and limited physical activity (p &lt; .01). Conclusions: PIU behaviors, subjective health complaints and lack healthy lifestyles were common in adolescents in this study with a significantly high prevalence in 15-16-year-old girls.

Online activities as risk factors for Problematic internet use among students in Bahir Dar University, North West Ethiopia: A hierarchical regression model.

Problematic internet use (PIU) among youth has become a public health concern. Previous studies identified socio-demographic background risk factors for PIU. The effects of online activities on youth PIU behavior are not well investigated. This cross-sectional study assessed the roles of online activities for PIU behavior of undergraduate students in Bahir Dar University, North West Ethiopia. Data were collected from 812 randomly selected regular program students recruited from 10 departments. Respondents completed a pre-tested structured questionnaire. Hierarchical logistic regression models were used for analyses. The results indicated that social networking (75.5%), entertainment (73.6%), academic works (70.9%), and online gaming (21.6%) are the important online activities students are engaging in the internet. About 33% and 1.8% of students showed symptoms of mild and severe PIU, respectively. Taking online activities into account improved the model explaining PIU behavior of students. Online activities explained 46% of the variance in PIU. Using the internet for social networking (AOR = 7.078; 95% CI: 3.913-12.804) and online gaming (AOR = 2.175; 95% CI: 1.419-3.335) were risk factors for PIU. The findings revealed that more than a third of the respondents showed symptoms of PIU. Online activities improved the model explaining PIU behavior of students. Thus, university authorities need to be aware of the prevalence of PIU and introduce regulatory mechanisms to limit the usage of potentially addictive online activities and promoting responsible use of the internet.

Bullying victimization and poor relationships with parents as risk factors of problematic internet use in adolescence

During adolescence, adolescents move away from their parents in order to establish their place in society. Therefore, there are two arenas that have a significant impact on adolescents; the family and the social one. Adolescents’ intensive internet use leads to concern about Problematic Internet Use (PIU) (Siciliano et al., 2015). Therefore, the goal of this study was to examine if stressful environments such as being a victim to bullying and/or cyberbullying, and poor relationships with parents could be linked directly and indirectly to PIU. Data was collected from a representative sample of 1000 Israeli adolescents aged 12–17 (53% females, average age 14.19 (SD = 1.34)). Measures included demographics, a short problematic internet use test, relationships with parents' questionnaire, cyberbullying scale and, separately, a traditional bullying test. Path analysis model revealed that both poor parent-child communication and being a cyberbullying victim were related to PIU. Correspondingly, Poor parent-child communication had an indirect effect on PIU through bullying and/or cyberbullying victimization. Conversely, both positive mother-child communication and positive father-child communication had an indirect effect on PIU through bullying or cyberbullying victimization, implying that good communication with parents actually can assist reducing bullying victimization and PIU behavior. Limitations, conclusions, and suggestions for further research are discussed.