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Given the prevalence of Internet use among youth, there is concern that a subset of Internet-using youth may exhibit problematic or addictive patterns of Internet use. The present study examines the association between problematic Internet use (PIU), demographic variables, and health-related measures among Chinese adolescents. Survey data from 1552 adolescents (male = 653, mean age = 15.43 years) from Jilin Province, China, were collected. According to the Young Diagnostic Questionnaire for Internet Addiction (YDQ), 77.8% (n=1,207), 16.8% (n=260), and 5.5% (n=85) showed adaptive, maladaptive, and problematic Internet use, respectively. Multinomial logistic regression analysis revealed that gender and family income per month differed between youth showing problematic and adaptive patterns of Internet use. Well-being, self-esteem, and self-control were related to severity of problematic Internet use, with greater severity typically associated with poorer measures in each domain. The findings that severity of problematic Internet use is associated with specific socio-demographic features and temperamental and well-being measures suggest that specific groups of youth may be particularly vulnerable to developing problematic Internet use. Early prevention/intervention programs targeting at-risk groups may help improve public health.

Background and Aims: The widespread use of social media on smartphones has lead to the fear of missing out (FoMO) and smartphone addiction among a minority of adolescents and adults. However, few studies have investigated the impact of trait affect on sleep quality via FoMO and smartphone addiction. The present study examined whether FoMO (trait-FoMO and state-FoMO) and smartphone addiction mediated the relationship between positive affect (PA)/negative affect (NA) and sleep quality, and the prevalence of sleep disturbance among Chinese university students.

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This study examined the frequency of mobile phone dependence in Chinese university students and explored its association with social support and impulsivity. Altogether, 909 university students were consecutively recruited from a large university in China. Mobile phone use, mobile phone dependence, impulsivity, and social support were measured with standardized instruments. The frequency of possible mobile phone use and mobile phone dependence was 78.3% and 7.4%, respectively. Multinomial logistic regression analyses revealed that compared with no mobile phone dependence, possible mobile phone dependence was significantly associated with being male (p = 0.04, OR = 0.7, 95% CI: 0.4–0.98), excessive mobile phone use (p < 0.001, OR = 1.2, 95% CI: 1.09–1.2), and impulsivity (p < 0.001, OR = 1.05, 95% CI: 1.03–1.06), while mobile phone dependence was associated with length of weekly phone use (p = 0.01, OR = 2.5, 95% CI: 1.2–5.0), excessive mobile phone use (p < 0.001, OR = 1.3, 95% CI: 1.2–1.4), and impulsivity (p < 0.001, OR = 1.08, 95% CI: 1.05–1.1). The frequency of possible mobile phone dependence and mobile phone dependence was high in this sample of Chinese university students. A significant positive association with impulsivity was found, but not with social support.

BackgroundTo explore the relationship between college students’ alexithymia and mobile phone addiction as well as the mediating effects of mental health and the moderating role of being a single child or not.MethodsA total of 1034 college students from Changchun were assessed with the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) and Mobile Phone Addiction Index (MPAI).ResultsAlexithymia was positively correlated with mental health and mobile phone addiction. Alexithymia had not only a direct impact on mobile phone addiction but also an indirect impact via mental health. For college students who were not only children, higher levels of alexithymia led to an increase in mobile phone addiction, whereas the influence of alexithymia on mobile phone addiction was much weaker among only children.ConclusionMental health has a partial mediating effect on the relationship between alexithymia and mobile phone addiction, and the relationship was significantly moderated by whether students were only children or not.

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Background: Research into the 'fear of missing out' (FoMO) has greatly increased in recent years. In Asia, many university students frequently use social networking sites (SNSs) via their smartphone. There has also been some studies examining problematic social media use, but there are few Chinese studies concerning FoMO. This may be partly due to the lack of standardized measurement tools for assessing FoMO. Therefore, the present study psychometrically validated the Chinese version of the Trait-State Fear of Missing Out Scale (T-SFoMOS-C) and tested its reliability, validity and measurement invariance among Chinese university students. Methods: A total of 2,017 university students (aged 17 to 25 years) completed an online survey including the Chinese Trait-State Fear of missing Out Scale (T-SFoMOS-C), the Social Network Site Intensity Scale (SNSIS), and the International Positive and Negative Affect Scale short-form (I-PANAS-SF).Results: Item analysis and exploratory factor analysis was carried out on the T-SFoMOS-C. Confirmatory factor analysis (χ 2 = 177.49, df = 50, p < .01; TLI = .959; CFI = .960; SRMR = .038; RMSEA = .050) and measurement invariance showed that the T-SFoMOS-C for university students had good construct validity among different groups. The internal consistency of the T-SFoMOS-C (.81), the test-retest reliability (.81), and the composite reliability of state-FoMO and trait-FoMO (.76 and .80) were also good. The T-SFoMOS-C was significantly correlated with the SNSIS (.40) and the Negative Affect (NA) (.26), respectively.