Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Aug 6, 2018
Open Peer Review Period: Aug 9, 2018 - Sep 27, 2018
Date Accepted: Feb 3, 2019
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
The Relationship Between Personality Traits, Psychopathological Symptoms, and Problematic Internet Use: A Complex Mediation Model
Background:
There are many empirical studies that demonstrate the associations between problematic internet use, psychopathological symptoms, and personality traits. However, complex models are scarce.
Objective:
The aim of this study was to build and test a mediation model based on problematic internet use, psychopathological symptoms, and personality traits.
Methods:
Data were collected from a medical addiction center (43 internet addicts) and internet cafés (222 customers) in Beijing (mean age 22.45, SD 4.96 years; 239/265, 90.2% males). Path analysis was applied to test the mediation models using structural equation modeling.
Results:
Based on the preliminary analyses (correlations and linear regression), two different models were built. In the first model, low conscientiousness and depression had a direct significant influence on problematic internet use. The indirect effect of conscientiousness—via depression—was nonsignificant. Emotional stability only affected problematic internet use indirectly, via depressive symptoms. In the second model, low conscientiousness also had a direct influence on problematic internet use, whereas the indirect path via the Global Severity Index was again nonsignificant. Emotional stability impacted problematic internet use indirectly via the Global Severity Index, whereas it had no direct effect on it, as in the first model.
Conclusions:
Personality traits (ie, conscientiousness as a protective factor and neuroticism as a risk factor) play a significant role in problematic internet use, both directly and indirectly (via distress level).
Citation
Per the author's request the PDF is not available.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.