JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Recently, the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health have been addressed from the perspective of general public health. The role of problematic Internet use as a risk factor for psychological distress during the epidemic is another area of increased concern. Preliminary evidence suggests an increased psychological vulnerability for elementary and middle school teachers.

Objective:

The current study analyzed the role of problematic Internet use, including problematic smartphone (PSU) and problematic social media use (PSMU), as explanatory variables in terms of primary and middle school teachers’ fear of COVID-19. The effects of PNT of online teaching and fear of COVID-19 were also evaluated in terms of teachers’ psychological distress. The purpose was to empirically evaluate the relationships among these research variables using a proposed model of factors contributing to teachers’ psychological distress during COVID-19.

Methods:

Online survey data was collected from 9030 primary and middle school teachers. A conventional model based on recent publications in the field of problematic Internet use and psychological distress during COVID-19 was compared with a proposed model, based on prior findings indicating problematic Internet use variables serve as explanatory, rather than outcome, variables.

Results:

Structural Equation Modelling confirmed the superior goodness of fit of the proposed model (Χ2 (348) = 6220.27, RMSEA = 0.04, NNFI = 0.07, CFI = 0.99, SRMR = 0.07), as evidenced by aΔAIC of 578.505 (significant when greater than 10) between the conventional model and proposed model. The data also demonstrated that the proportion of participants with psychological distress was relatively high: depression (20.4%), anxiety (26.4%), and stress (10.2%). The problematic Internet use behaviors were significantly associated with fear of COVID-19 (PSU: t = 17.19, P < 0.001; PSMU: t = 7.91, P < 0.001). Fear of COVID-19 and PNT of online teaching were both positively related with psychological distress (Fear of COVID-19: t = 9.65, P < 0.001; PNT of online teaching: t = 10.83, P < 0.001). A significant moderating effect was found for PNT of online teaching on psychological distress (t = 5.68, P < 0.001), in that PNT of online teaching enhances the harmful effect of fear of COVID-19 on psychological distress.

Conclusions:

The findings suggest that problematic Internet use behaviors contribute to fear of COVID-19 which, in turn, results in psychological distress. PNT of online teaching was both directly associated with increased psychological distress as well as serving as a moderator enhancing the impact of fear of COVID-19 on psychological distress. We suggest that school administrators pay attention to teachers’ psychological needs and make efforts to assist teachers in experiencing greater autonomy and relatedness from interpersonal relationships to alleviate the psychological need thwarting that may arise from online teaching tasks.