Intolerance Of Uncertainty And Problematic Internet Use Of Middle School Students: A Moderated Intermediary Model And Intervention Study

As the internet continues to grow in popularity and rapidly expand among the general public,the impact of internet use on adolescent development has received increased attention from researchers.On the one hand,the internet has brought many conveniences into teenagers’ lives,such as online networking and online shopping;on the other hand,the internet has also brought some negative effects on teenagers,such as internet addiction.The group of teenagers are in the secondary school stage,where their physical and mental development is not mature enough,and their self-control and ability to resist temptation are weak,plus the fact that the internet has its own characteristics,such as anonymity,timelessness and instant gratification,which in turn makes teenagers have a higher preference for the internet than other age groups.Meanwhile,uncertainty has become a major buzzword in teenagers’ lives after the outbreak of the new pneumonia crown epidemic in late 2019.Whether and how this uncertainty is increasing teens’ excessive internet use has become an important issue worth exploring these days.Focusing on the relationship between uncertainty and problematic internet use,this study aims to explore the relationship between Intolerance of uncertainty and problematic internet use among high school students and the mechanisms by which social anxiety and coping styles play a role(Study 1).On this basis,a group counseling program was adopted to intervene on high school students’ levels of social anxiety and to investigate whether a group counseling program based on social anxiety is effective in reducing problematic Internet use among adolescents(Study 2).A questionnaire survey was administered to 1,274 middle school through high school students,and data were analyzed using SPSS 26.0 and the macro PROCESS add-on program.The results showed that(1)there was a significant positive correlation between problematic Internet use and Intolerance of uncertainty and social anxiety among secondary school students;there was a significant positive correlation between Intolerance of uncertainty and social anxiety(2)social anxiety partially mediated the relationship between Intolerance of uncertainty and problematic Internet use among middle school students;(3)negative coping moderated the direct path between Intolerance of uncertainty and problematic Internet use among middle school students.In Study 2,24 high school students with high levels of problematic Internet use and high levels of social anxiety were selected and randomly divided into an experimental group and a control group.The experimental group completed eight group counselling sessions over eight weeks while attending a mental health course;while the control group attended only one mental health course.Results showed that(1)problematic use of networks by the two groups showed no significant differences at pretest,while the experimental group scored lower than the control group distribution at post-test(p <0.001);(2)social anxiety levels of the experimental and control groups showed no significant differences at pretest,while the experimental group scored lower than the control group at post-test(p < 0.001).This study shows that Intolerance of uncertainty is a significant risk factor for problematic Internet use among high school students and that negative dimensions of social anxiety and coping styles play an important role,designing group tutoring with the theme of social anxiety effectively reduces the use of problematic internet use.The results of this study enrich the theoretical content of increasing insecure Internet use in the context of the epidemic and provide guiding suggestions for social anxiety management and intervention for problematic Internet use.