Relationships Between Job Stress, Psychological Adaptation and Internet Gaming Disorder Among Migrant Factory Workers in China: The Mediation Role of Negative Affective States

Abstract

Factory workers make up a large proportion of China’s internal migrants and may be highly susceptible to job and adaptation stress, negative affective states (e.g., depression and anxiety), and Internet gaming disorder (IGD). This cross-sectional study investigated the relationships between job stress, psychological adaptation, negative affective states and IGD among 1,805 factory workers recruited by stratified multi-stage sampling between October and December 2019. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was conducted to test the proposed mediation model. Among the participants, 67.3% were male and 71.7% were aged 35 years old or below. The prevalence of probable depression, probable anxiety, and IGD was 39.3, 28.7, and 7.5%. Being male, younger age, and shorter duration of living in Shenzhen were associated with higher IGD scores. Job stress was significantly associated with IGD (β = 0.11, p = 0.01) but not with negative affective states (β = 0.01, p = 0.77). Psychological adaptation was significantly associated with negative affective states (β = −0.37, p < 0.001) but not with IGD (β = 0.09, p > 0.05). Negative affective states were positively associated with IGD (β = 0.27, p < 0.001). The indirect effect of psychological adaptation (β = −0.10, p = 0.004) but not job stress (β = 0.003, p = 0.77) on IGD through negative affective states was statistically significant. The observed psychological correlates and mechanisms are modifiable, and can inform the design of evidence-based prevention programs for depression, anxiety, and IGD in this population.

Longitudinal modifiable risk and protective factors of internet gaming disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis

“…In other words, these intrapersonal factors may play as mediators or underlying mechanisms in explaining the relationships from higher socio-ecological level factors to individual IGD. For example, environmental and interpersonal stress and a lack of social support may cause maladaptive coping which in turn can increase the risk of IGD ( Cao et al, 2022 ).…”

Meta-Analysis of Internet Gaming Disorder Prevalence: Assessing the Impacts of DSM-5 and ICD-11 Diagnostic Criteria

“…To enhance review, we additionally identified five pertinent articles from the references of the remaining studies, relevant meta-analyses, and reviews published recently. This adjustment brought the total number of articles under consideration to 22 [ 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 ].…”

Application of machine learning for risky sexual behavior interventions among factory workers in China

“…Considering the rising incidence of STIs, WHO has proposed a Global Health Sector Strategy for STIs 2016-2021, which aims to end the public health problem of the STI epidemic by 2030, including reducing the incidence of gonorrhea by 90% globally (2018 global baseline) and in 80% of countries reducing congenital syphilis per 100,000 live births reduce incidence by more than 50 cases (2). Additionally, previous studies suggest that various interventions should increase HIV/STIs awareness and reduce HIV/STIs-related risk behaviors among factory workers in China because they are particularly vulnerable to infection (3)(4)(5). One key strategy to reduce the incidence of HIV/STIs is to increase awareness and attitudes toward risky sexual behaviors (6,7).…”