The Role of Resilience in Internet Addiction among Adolescents between Sexes: A Moderated Mediation Model

Abstract

The behavioral inhibition/activation systems (BIS/BAS) have been considered to be predictors of Internet addiction, mediated by clinical variables such as anxiety and depression. However, resilience has been suggested as a protective factor toward Internet addiction, and certain sex differences in resilience buffering the effects of vulnerability have been reported. Thus, the aim of this study was to identify any role of resilience that might moderate the effects of BIS/BAS on Internet addiction through multiple clinical variables in boys and girls. A total of 519 middle-school students (268 boys and 251 girls, all 14 years old) were administered a questionnaire battery that measures Internet addiction, BIS/BAS, depression, anxiety, impulsivity, anger, and resilience. We used the PROCESS macro in SPSS to perform moderation and mediation analysis. Findings revealed that although a somewhat similar mediation model was supported in both sexes, moderating effects of resilience only emerged in girls. The results showed a protective role of resilience differing between sexes. These results suggest that clinicians should consider sex in the way resilience works as a protective factor against Internet addiction and focus on mitigating the effects of vulnerability by enhancing resilience in female Internet addicts.

Association of Internet Addiction With Nonsuicidal Self-injury Among Adolescents in China

“…To aid in understanding the association of internet addiction and NSSI, multinominal logistic regression analyses were used to estimate the adjusted odds ratios (aORs) and 95% CIs of internet addiction and possible internet addiction for participants engaged in less-frequent or more-frequent NSSI separately, and different covariates were adjusted in 3 models to examine the robustness of the associations. In model 1, we adjusted for demographic characteristics of participants, including provinces (Anhui, Guangdong, Heilongjiang, Hubei, and Yunnan), sex (male or female), age groups (11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17), and 18-20 years), grade (junior high school or senior high school), and ethnicity (Han or others). In model 2, we also adjusted for covariates of socioeconomic status and family environment, including family income (<$150, $150-850, or >$850/mo), which was divided according to local economic level and referred to in a previous study, 30 family structure (single parent/restructured family, grandparents' family, combined family, or core family/stem family), single-child family (yes or no), parents' educational level (college or above, senior high school/technical school, or junior high school or below), parenting styles (strict, pampered, neglect or frequently changing, or open-minded).…”

“…Loneliness was measured by using the revised version of the Loneliness Scale, which was developed by Li et al 27 Previous studies have suggested that both NSSI and internet addiction were associated with a wide range of demographic characteristics and socioeconomic status, 15,16 which should be adjusted when examining the association of internet addiction with NSSI. We used a self-designed questionnaire to collect socioeconomic, familial, and parenting variables, including age, sex, ethnicity, family income, family structure, single-child family, parents' educational level, and parenting style.…”

Self-Efficacy and Clinical Characteristics in Casual Gamers Compared to Excessive Gaming Users and Non-Gamers in Young Adults

“…Similarly, the discrepancy between the actual self and the ideal self had a significant influence on the tendency to engage in pathological gaming, indicating that addicted gamers try to escape from the real world or the self via internet gaming [ 69 , 70 ]. Furthermore, IGD patients tend to have low levels of resilience (i.e., the ability to overcome, recover from, or adapt to significant adversity) [ 71 , 72 ], which is noteworthy because resilience plays a protective role in IGD [ 73 ]. Indeed, several studies have found that self-efficacy is correlated with levels of resilience, which is not surprising given that self-efficacy is considered an element of resilience [ 74 ] and that general self-efficacy is closely associated with resilience [ 75 ].…”

Associations Among Resilience, Stress, Depression, and Internet Gaming Disorder in Young Adults

“…For example, psychosocial resilience, such as positive emotions, optimism, humor, cognitive flexibility, and reappraisal could attenuate stress-induced psychopathology [21]. Thus, resilience was reported to be a buffering factor against Internet addiction [22]. Furthermore, resilience was reportedly lower among adolescents with IGD according to questionnaire assessments [15].…”