Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Apr 13, 2024
Open Peer Review Period: Apr 17, 2024 - Jun 12, 2024
Date Accepted: Sep 17, 2024
(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Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited.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.
Associations between Low Self-Control, Meaning in Life, Internet Gaming Disorder Symptoms, and Functioning in Chinese Adolescents: A Cross-sectional Structural Equation Model
ABSTRACT
Background:
Internet gaming disorder (IGD) is a prevalent public health issue among adolescents. Few studies have, however, examined the relationships between IGD symptoms, low self-control, and meaning in life (MIL).
Objective:
The present study aimed to examine the mediating role of IGD symptoms in the relationships between low self-control and meaning in life and adolescents’ family and school functioning.
Methods:
A sample of 2,064 adolescents (46.9% females, mean age = 14.6 years) was recruited from five middle schools in Sichuan, China in 2022. Indirect effects of low self-control and MIL on family and school functioning via IGD symptoms were analyzed via structural equation modeling (SEM).
Results:
All scales showed satisfactory model fit and scalar measurement invariance by gender. Males showed significantly greater IGD symptoms and lower levels of self-control than females. Impulsivity, temper, search for meaning, and lower presence of meaning were significantly associated with greater IGD symptoms. There were significant indirect effects from impulsivity, temper, and presence of meaning to family and school functioning via IGD symptoms. Multigroup SEM across gender found that the positive association between search for meaning and IGD symptoms existed in males but not females. Presence of meaning significantly and negatively moderated the association between impulsivity and IGD symptoms.
Conclusions:
The findings support a mediating role of IGD symptoms in the relationships between low self-control and MIL and functioning and a buffering role of MIL on the associations between impulsivity and IGD symptoms among the ethnic minority adolescents. The results have implications for targeted interventions to help males with lower self-control and presence of meaning.
Citation
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