Neuroticism,Negative Emotions And Internet Addiction In College Students

Objective:Internet addiction among college students has become a behavioral problem of social concern.Studies have found that internet addiction is associated with neuroticism and negative emotions.Previous studies have mostly been based on a cross-sectional design,but both negative emotions and Internet addiction behaviors are susceptible to time and environmental influences and will change with time and environment,so cross-sectional research is difficult to understand the specific relationship between negative emotions and Internet addiction behaviors.This study attempted to focus on the negative emotion and Internet addiction degree of college students in different periods,as well as the influence of neurotic personality and negative emotions on Internet addiction,and further explored the relationship between themMethods:Using the simple cluster sampling,participants who were from a university in Hunan Province,were asked to complete the general data questionnaire,the Beck Depression Inventory,the State Trait Anxiety Inventory,the Internet Addiction Test,and Neuroticism Subscale of Eysenck’s Personality Questionnaire.Based on completing the first baseline level survey（T0）,a follow-up survey（T1,T2）was conducted every 12 months,three surveys were completed,and a total of 2509people completed the three tests completely.The data were processed and analyzed using SPSS25.0 software and Mplus6.3 software,and the development trajectory of negative emotions and Internet addiction and their interactions were investigated through the latent variable growth model and cross-lagging model.Results:（1）The scores on the College Students’Internet Addiction Scale showed a linearly decreasing trend between freshman（T0）and junior year（T2）（β=-0.10,p=0.001）.Internet addiction among male college students declined faster than in women between freshman（T0）and junior year（T2）.（2）College students’depression scores showed a decreasing trend between freshman year（T0）and junior year（T2）(B _depression=-3.04,p<0.001;B _anxiety=-2.28,p<0.001).Male college students’negative mood scores declined more slowly than women between freshman year（T0）and junior year（T2）.（3）The intercept of negative emotions positively predicted the intercept of Internet addiction scores(β_depression=0.45,p<0.001;β_anxiety=0.35,p<0.01),and the slope of negative emotions positively predicted the slope of Internet addiction(β_depression=0.45,p<0.001;β_anxiety=0.80,p<0.001);the negative emotions in sophomore year（T1）significantly predicted the internet addiction in the third year（T2）(β_depression=0.09,p<0.001;β_anxiety=0.07,p<0.001),internet addiction in sophomore year（T1）significantly predicted negative emotions in junior year（T2）(β_depression=0.10,p<0.001;(β_anxiety=0.10,p<0.001).There were gender differences in the interaction between negative emotions and internet addiction.（4）Individual neurotic level affected the degree of T2’s Internet addiction through T1’s depression and anxiety.Among them,the total effect of T0 neuroticism on T2 Internet addiction was 0.332,the direct effect was 0.230（accounting for 30.72%of the total effect）,the mediating effect of T1 depressed mood was 0.044（accounting for13.25%of the total effect）,and the mediating effect of T1 anxiety was0.058（accounting for 17.46%of the total effect）.Conclusion:Individuals with a highly neurotic personality are prone to negative emotions,which positively predict Internet addiction,which in turn predicts subsequent negative emotions.The results verify the I-PACE model,which provides a theoretical basis and practical ideas for the prevention and intervention of Internet addiction in college students.