Cross-lagged relationships between problematic Internet use and lifestyle changes

Internet addiction and its relationship with food choice motives and the risk of eating disorders among young adults in Malaysia

The COVID-19 lockdown measures have dramatically altered the daily routines of young adults. Therefore, this study aims to elucidate the relationships between internet addiction, food choice motives and the risk of eating disorders in young adults during the transition to the endemic phase of COVID-19. The Internet Addiction Test was utilised to evaluate the presence and severity of internet addiction among young adults. The Food Choice Questionnaire was employed to assess the food choice motives of young adults, while the risk of eating disorders was determined using the Eating Attitude Test-26. The relationships between internet addiction, food choice motives, and the risk of eating disorders were assessed using model 4 of the PROCESS macro for SPSS. The findings indicated that 29.0% of young adults experienced moderate-to-severe internet addiction, whereas 32.6% were at risk of eating disorders. Young adults were highly valued for the price, sensory appeal, and mood when deciding food choices. The relationship between internet addiction and the risk of eating disorders was partially mediated by convenience (b = - 0.211, SE = 0.140, - 0.548 to - 0.016) and familiarity (b = 0.219, SE = 0.122, 0.019 to 0.494). A significant direct effect was also observed between internet addiction and the risk of eating disorders (B = 0.793, p = 0.017). There is an urgent need to implement intervention strategies aimed at reducing problematic internet use, promoting healthier food choices, and fostering healthy eating habits among young adults.

Does Internet use connect smallholder farmers to a healthy diet? Evidence from rural China

Introduction

Undernutrition and micronutrient malnutrition remain problems of significant magnitude among small-scale subsistence farmers, posing a serious threat to their health and well-being. Developing a healthy diet can effectively reduce this threat. Fortunately, the Internet can speed up the process.

Methods

Based on survey data from 5,114 farm households in nine provinces in China, this study quantitatively assesses the impact of Internet use on the dietary quality of smallholder farmers using OLS regression models and PSM models.

Results/Discussion

(1) Internet use can significantly contribute to dietary diversity and dietary rationality among smallholder farmers, thus optimizing their dietary structure. (2) Internet use significantly increased the average consumption amounts of milk and its products (2.9 g), fruits (21.5 g), eggs (7.5 g), and vegetables (27.1 g), while also decreasing the intake of salts (1.5 g) and oil (3.8 g). (3) The pull of internet use to improve diet quality is more significant for smallholder households with lower levels of education, older heads of households, and higher household incomes. (4) A possible mechanism is that Internet use increases household income and information access skills of rural residents, thus improving their dietary quality. In summary, governments should further promote Internet penetration in rural areas for health purposes.

Developing Personas of Gamers with Problematic Gaming Behavior among College Students Based on Qualitative Data of Gaming Motives and Push-Pull-Mooring

Gaming is a popular but possibly problematic activity among college students. To distinguish gamers with potential problematic gaming behaviors (PGB) is crucial to mental health staff. Two studies were conducted that aimed to explore portraits of gamers with PGB in college campuses. The first study selected 20 college students, diagnosed with problematic gaming behaviors, from a longitudinal dataset and semi-structured interviews were conducted for a systematic description of long-term PGB. The second study selected four personas with the richest coding data of internet addiction and depression from 20 gamers. The profiles and life experiences of the personas showed changing processes of gaming motives and push-pull-mooring effects across the years. "Loss of purpose in life" and "desperate to escape from stress or boredom in the real world" were the important push effects. Mooring effects revealed their addiction or depression symptoms and the process of developing the addiction. The dynamics of "push", "pull", and "mooring" effects were clearly indicated in the results suggesting PGB might be a long-term coping strategy and a consequence of depression and loneliness. Dealing with depression and finding real-life goals could help PGB gamers to change the dynamics of their gaming motives and push-pull-mooring effects. The results may help develop interventions for gamers with problematic gaming behaviors.

The Case of a Multiplication Skills Game: Teachers’ Viewpoint on MG’s Dashboard and OSLM Features

Educational games and digital game-based learning (DGBL) provide pupils interactive, engaging, intelligent, and motivating learning environments. According to research, digital games can support students’ learning and enhance their motivation to learn. Given the central role teachers play in the learning process, their perceptions of DGBL play a significant role in the usage and effectiveness of game-based learning. This paper presents the main findings of an online research on primary school teachers’ attitudes toward DGBL. Furthermore, the research investigates teachers’ opinions about the functionalities provided by the implemented Multiplication Game (MG) and the newly incorporated teacher dashboard. The MG is an assessment and skills improvement tool that integrates an adaptation mechanism that identifies student weaknesses on the multiplication tables and in its latest version also supports a strong social parameter. Students can be informed about their own progress as well as the progress of their peers in an effort to examine if social interaction or competition can increase players’ motivation, which is a subject that raised some concerns in the teaching community. The paper describes the functional options offered by the MG dashboard and documents the outcomes of an online survey conducted with the participation of 182 primary school teachers. The survey indicated the potential usefulness of MG and the benefits it can offer as a learning tool to improve pupil multiplication skills and help teachers identify individual pupil skills and difficulties and adapt their teaching accordingly. The analysis applied has found a correlation between teachers’ perceptions about MG and their view on using digital games in general.

Problematic internet use: A scoping review – longitudinal research on a contemporary social problem, 2006–2017

Background and aims:

Problematic internet use (PIU), and kindred concepts such as internet addiction (IA), make up a growing research field, partly due to the suggested inclusion of internet gaming disorder in a future DSM-6 as well as the fact that gaming disorder is on its way to being included in the ICD-11. Conclusions from research are far from unified. This study aims to synthesise the research field of problematic internet use/internet addiction/gaming disorder, with a focus on the reporting of prevalence and change.

Methods:

Longitudinal studies of PIU/IA formed the basis for a scoping review. Systematic searches of Web of Science, Scopus and Proquest, for peer-reviewed and published articles based on empirical data collected at a minimum of two time points for studies, and with an end point set at 2017, led to the inclusion of 97 studies. Endnote X7 was used to organise the results and NVivo 11 was used for synthesising the results.

Results:

Analyses focused on prevalence and change. Findings show variation among measures and prevalence as well as in reported outcomes relating to social life and other problems. Most studies reported relations between PIU/IA and other problems in life, but no specific time order could be established. Furthermore, many studies did not present data on prevalence or change even though using a longitudinal survey design.

Discussion and conclusions:

In summary, the research field is plagued by a lack of consensus and common understanding, regarding both measures, perceptions of the problem, and findings.

Does Internet Use Affect Individuals’ Medical Service Satisfaction? Evidence from China

Empirical evidence that combines traditional factors and information technology factors to predict public attitudes toward to medical services is inadequate. To fill this gap, this study investigates the impact of Internet use on people’s satisfaction with medical services by employing the Chinese Social Survey for 2013, 2015 and 2017 (including 28,239 samples in total). Estimation results under the ordered probit reveal that Internet use is negatively correlated with individuals’ medical services satisfaction. The results support the negativity bias theory, namely, compared with positive information, netizens pay more attention to negative medical-related information on the Internet. The results are still reliable by adopting substitution variable methods, subdividing the samples, employing other estimation methods and carrying out placebo tests to conduct robustness checks. This study further enriches the literature on public attitudes toward medical services and provides additional policy implications for medical risk management in the digital era.

When adolescents face both Internet addiction and mood symptoms: A cross-sectional study of comorbidity and its predictors

This study aimed to determine the prevalence of comorbid Internet addiction (IA) and mood symptoms and to identify common and unique risk profiles for individual and comorbid mental health problems among adolescents. A total of 2272 high school students in Changchun, China, were included in a cross-sectional study. Participants were asked to complete paper-based questionnaires on sociodemographic characteristics, lifestyle factors, Internet use, parent-child relationships, IA, and mood symptoms. Multivariate logistic regressions were used to compare the risk profiles for IA, mood symptoms, and their comorbidity. The Bonferroni correction was used for multiple tests. Students who were girls, were current smokers, had more than 1.5 h sleep deprivation per day on weekdays, used the Internet for more than 30 and 240 min per day on weekdays and weekends, respectively, used social networking sites more than 6 times per day, were Internet gamers, and/or reported poor parent-child relationships reported higher rates of comorbid IA and mood symptoms. Adolescents exposed to more of these correlates would have a higher risk of IA, mood symptoms, and their comorbidity. Public strategies for the prevention of mental illnesses should expand their capacity to identify and limit the co-occurrence of IA and mood symptoms.

Latent profiles of stress and their relationships with depression and problematic Internet use among college freshmen

As noted in previously published literature, college students frequently experience academic stress, financial stress, and the stresses caused by intimate, peer, and parent-adolescent relationships. The present study uses latent profile analysis to identify stress profiles based on the aforementioned five stressors among 430 college freshmen. Thereafter, we compare the levels of depression and problematic Internet use (PIU) among the different profile groups and investigate whether background variables could predict each latent stress group. Three latent groups were labelled as follows: Ordinary (n = 257, 59.77%); all moderate-high (n = 98, 22.79%); and college-life moderate-high (n = 75, 17.44%). Compared with the ordinary group, the all moderate-high and college-life moderate-high groups displayed significantly higher levels of depression. Moreover, the all moderate-high group had a severer level of PIU than the college-life moderate-high and ordinary groups. Interestingly, males and students who were dating were more likely to fall under the all moderate-high group than the college-life moderate-high group; but students who were more concerned with their academic performance were more likely to fall under the college-life moderate-high group than the all moderate-high group. These findings have important implications for college educators and school counsellors with regard to developing appropriate interventions as required.

The Influence of Parental Control and Parent-Child Relational Qualities on Adolescent Internet Addiction: A 3-Year Longitudinal Study in Hong Kong

This study investigated how parental behavioral control, parental psychological control, and parent-child relational qualities predicted the initial level and rate of change in adolescent internet addiction (IA) across the junior high school years. The study also investigated the concurrent and longitudinal effects of different parenting factors on adolescent IA. Starting from the 2009/2010 academic year, 3,328 Grade 7 students (Mage = 12.59 ± 0.74 years) from 28 randomly selected secondary schools in Hong Kong responded on a yearly basis to a questionnaire measuring multiple constructs including socio-demographic characteristics, perceived parenting characteristics, and IA. Individual growth curve (IGC) analyses showed that adolescent IA slightly decreased during junior high school years. While behavioral control of both parents was negatively related to the initial level of adolescent IA, only paternal behavioral control showed a significant positive relationship with the rate of linear change in IA, suggesting that higher paternal behavioral control predicted a slower decrease in IA. In addition, fathers' and mothers' psychological control was positively associated with the initial level of adolescent IA, but increase in maternal psychological control predicted a faster drop in IA. Finally, parent-child relational qualities negatively and positively predicted the initial level and the rate of change in IA, respectively. When all parenting factors were considered simultaneously, multiple regression analyses revealed that paternal behavioral control and psychological control as well as maternal psychological control and mother-child relational quality were significant concurrent predictors of adolescent IA at Wave 2 and Wave 3. Regarding the longitudinal predicting effects, paternal psychological control and mother-child relational quality at Wave 1 were the two most robust predictors of later adolescent IA at Wave 2 and Wave 3. The above findings underscore the importance of the parent-child subsystem qualities in influencing adolescent IA in the junior high school years. In particular, these findings shed light on the different impacts of fathering and mothering which are neglected in the scientific literature. While the findings based on the levels of IA are consistent with the existing theoretical models, findings on the rate of change are novel.

Testing Longitudinal Relationships between Internet Addiction and Well-Being in Hong Kong Adolescents: Cross-Lagged Analyses Based on three Waves of Data

Using a panel design, this study examined the prospective relationships between Internet addiction and life satisfaction as well as hopelessness in a representative sample of Hong Kong adolescents. Starting from 2009/10 academic year, 3328 Secondary 1 students in 28 secondary schools in Hong Kong participated in this longitudinal study (Mean age = 12.59 years; SD = 0.74 years). All participants responded to a questionnaire that includes the Internet Addiction Test, Life Satisfaction Scale, and Hopelessness Scale on a yearly basis. Cross-lagged analyses based on three waves of data collected during three junior adolescent years showed that Internet addiction measured at Time 1 predicted poor life satisfaction and hopelessness at Time 2, but not vice versa. Similarly, Internet addiction at Time 2 predicted low life satisfaction at Time 3, and the cross-lagged effects of life satisfaction and hopelessness on Internet addiction from Time 2 to Time 3 remained non-significant. The findings support the thesis that poor personal well-being in adolescents is the consequence rather than the cause of Internet addictive behaviors. To improve quality of life and prevent suicidality in adolescents, strategies that help reduce addictive behaviors related to the Internet should be considered.