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Rumination Across Internet Use Disorders (IUDs): a Systematic Review

  • Internet Use Disorders (H-J Rumpf and J Billieux, Section Editors)
  • Published:
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Abstract 

Purpose of Review

In this systematic review, we examine the contribution of rumination (a maladaptive coping style of emotion regulation) when accounting for the onset and severity of different internet use disorders (IUDs).

Recent Findings

We retained and analyzed 42 studies that explored the association between rumination and six different IUDs: problematic smartphone use, problematic internet use, problematic social networks use, problematic online gaming, problematic online gambling, and online buying-shopping disorder. Overall, the available results suggest that rumination is positively associated with IUDs and that this association is consistent across multiple technology-mediated problematic behaviors. Furthermore, many of the reviewed studies underscore the contribution of rumination when explaining how and for whom, or under what conditions, different variables (e.g., unpleasant emotional states) are related to IUDs.

Summary

This systematic review offers a comprehensive overview of the current state of knowledge regarding the association between rumination and IUDs and identifies new areas that warrant further research.

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Papers of particular interest, published recently, have been highlighted as: • Of importance •• Of major importance

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Personality, Assessment, and Psychological Treatments, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain

    J. Castro-Calvo & P. Beltrán-Martínez

  2. Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne (UNIL), Lausanne, Switzerland

    M. Flayelle & J. Billieux

  3. Centre for Excessive Gambling, Addiction Medicine, Lausanne University Hospitals (CHUV), Lausanne, Switzerland

    J. Billieux

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  1. J. Castro-Calvo
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  2. P. Beltrán-Martínez
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  3. M. Flayelle
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  4. J. Billieux
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Contributions

JCC and PBM were involved in the literature review, study selection, data extraction, and writing of the manuscript. MF and JB provided feedback on the review methodology and revised the initial draft of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to J. Castro-Calvo.

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This article does not involve any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors of this review and ethics approval is therefore not required.

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The authors declare no conflict of interest. This article has been edited by Section Editor Hans Jürgen- Rumpf, as Joël Billieux is a Section Editor for the topical collection Internet-Use Disorders.

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Castro-Calvo, J., Beltrán-Martínez, P., Flayelle, M. et al. Rumination Across Internet Use Disorders (IUDs): a Systematic Review. Curr Addict Rep 9, 540–570 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40429-022-00442-7

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