The Relationship Of College Students’ Problematic Internet Use With Their Death Attitudes:The Mediation Effect Of Meaning In Life

This paper was conducted to explore the relationship of college students’ Problematic Internet Use (PIU) with their death attitudes and meaning in life.540 college students from the universities in Wuhan completed Davis Online Cognition Scale, Death Attitude Profile Revised, and Purpose in Life Test. This study examined the following aspects:(1) the characteristics of college students’PIU; (2) the characteristics of college students’ death attitudes; (3) the characteristics of college students’ meaning in life; (4) the correlation between college students’ PIU and their death attitudes; (5) the correlation between college students’ PIU and meaning in life; (6) the correlation between death attitudes and meaning in life; (7) the relationship among college students’ PIU, death attitude, and meaning in life. The results were as follows.(1) Social comfort sorted first in the college students’ PIU. Significant differences were found in PIU between male students and famale students, and among those students with different health level and family incomes, but significant grade differences were not found.(2) Approach acceptation sorted first in the college students’ death attitudes, followed by neutral acceptation, death fear, death escape, and escape acceptation. Significant gender differences were found in approach acceptation and escape acceptation.(3) Low-level meaning in life sorted first in the college students’ meaning in life, followed by medium level and high level. Significant differences were found in meaning in life health among college students from different health and family income, but there were not significant gender and grade differences.(4) PIU was negatively associated with neutral acceptation, and was positively associated with death fear, death escape, approach acceptation, and escape acceptation.(5) PIU was negatively associated with meaning in life.(6) Meaning in life was positively associated with neutral acceptation, and was negatively associated with death fear, death escape, approach acceptation, and escape acceptation.(7) Meaning in life mediated partially the effect of PIU on death fear, and mediated partially the effect of PIU on escape acceptation. Furthermore, meaning in life mediated fully the effect of PIU on neutral acceptation.