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Anhedonia mediates the link between problematic internet use and psychological well-being

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Abstract

Numerous studies have examined the causes and harms of problematic Internet use (PIU). However, less is known about whether and how PIU influences the users’ psychological well-being (PWB). To address these concerns, the study explores the impact of PIU on PWB with a special focus on the potential mediating role of anhedonia, which is a negative and core characteristic of depression. A total of 434 participants from two universities completed the questionnaires, which included the Internet Game Cognitive-Addiction (IGCA), Temporal Experience of Pleasure (TEP), and the PWB scales. Data were analyzed with structural equation modeling methods. Results show that PIU has a negative impact on PWB as assessed by the PWB scale, whereas anhedonia as measured by the TEP is a key mediator for explaining this relationship. Potential implications of the major findings are discussed.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Social Science Foundation of China (20BXW118), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK20181029), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (B200202152, B200204015), Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu College of China (17KJB190002), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31500870). We thank Zhi Li for his assistance in collecting data.

Data Availability Statement

The data are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Administration, Hohai University, No. 8 Focheng West Road, Jiangning District, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China

    Wangbing Shen, Meifeng Hua, Meijiao Wang & Meiling Shao

  2. Jiangsu Provincial key Laboratory of Special Children’s Impairment and Intervention, Rehabilitation Science School, Nanjing Normal University of Special Education, No 1 Shennong Road, Qixia District, Nanjing, 210038, China

    Yuan Yuan

  3. School of Education, Soochow University, Suzhou, China

    Yuan Zhao

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  1. Wangbing Shen
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Correspondence to Wangbing Shen or Yuan Yuan.

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Shen, W., Hua, M., Wang, M. et al. Anhedonia mediates the link between problematic internet use and psychological well-being. Curr Psychol 42, 2023–2030 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-01575-0

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