IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i20p13377-d944309.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Effect of COVID-19 Perceived Risk on Internet Addiction among College Students in China: An Empirical Study Based on the Structural Equation Model

Author

Listed:
  • Ling Pan

    (School of Finance and Economics, Hainan Vocational University of Science and Technology, Haikou 571126, China
    Department of Education Management, Chinese International College, Dhurakij Pundit University, Bangkok 10210, Thailand)

  • Jun Li

    (School of Finance and Economics, Hainan Vocational University of Science and Technology, Haikou 571126, China
    Department of Education Management, Chinese International College, Dhurakij Pundit University, Bangkok 10210, Thailand)

  • Ziao Hu

    (School of Finance and Economics, Hainan Vocational University of Science and Technology, Haikou 571126, China
    Department of Education Management, Chinese International College, Dhurakij Pundit University, Bangkok 10210, Thailand)

  • Henan Wu

    (School of Finance and Economics, Hainan Vocational University of Science and Technology, Haikou 571126, China)

Abstract

This study focused on COVID-19 perceived risk and Internet addiction among Chinese college students during the lockdown. On the basis of the Social Cognitive Theory, this study proposed a mediating model to evaluate the mediating role of difficulties in regulating emotion between the COVID-19 perceived risk and Internet addiction. A questionnaire survey was conducted among 690 college students during the COVID-19 lockdown in China. The results showed that the COVID-19 perceived risk was significantly positively associated with Internet addiction (r = 0.236, p < 0.001) and difficulties in emotion regulation (r = 0.220, p < 0.001), difficulties in emotion regulation was significantly positively associated with Internet addiction (r = 0.368, p < 0.001). The COVID-19 perceived risk had a significant and positive predictive effect on Internet addiction (β = 0.233, p < 0.001) among Chinese college students. The analysis of the mediation model showed that difficulties in emotion regulation partially mediated the relationship between COVID-19 perceived risk and Internet addiction (indirect effect value was 0.051 with 95% Confidence Interval ranging from 0.027 to 0.085). The findings not only enhanced our understanding of the internal influence mechanism of COVID-19 perceived risk on Internet addiction but also provided a practical basis for college education works. Finally, discussions and suggestions were provided on the basis of the results.

Suggested Citation

  • Ling Pan & Jun Li & Ziao Hu & Henan Wu, 2022. "The Effect of COVID-19 Perceived Risk on Internet Addiction among College Students in China: An Empirical Study Based on the Structural Equation Model," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(20), pages 1-15, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:20:p:13377-:d:944309
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/20/13377/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/20/13377/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bo Qian & Mengmeng Huang & Mengyi Xu & Yuxiang Hong, 2022. "Internet Use and Quality of Life: The Multiple Mediating Effects of Risk Perception and Internet Addiction," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-14, February.
    2. Stephanie Rodriguez-Besteiro & José Francisco Tornero-Aguilera & Jesús Fernández-Lucas & Vicente Javier Clemente-Suárez, 2021. "Gender Differences in the COVID-19 Pandemic Risk Perception, Psychology, and Behaviors of Spanish University Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(8), pages 1-9, April.
    3. Jui-Kang Tsai & Wei-Hsin Lu & Ray C. Hsiao & Huei-Fan Hu & Cheng-Fang Yen, 2020. "Relationship between Difficulty in Emotion Regulation and Internet Addiction in College Students: A One-Year Prospective Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(13), pages 1-11, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ana Ramírez-Adrados & Valentín E. Fernández-Elías & Silvia Fernández-Martínez & Beatriz Martínez-Pascual & Cristina Gonzalez-de-Ramos & Vicente Javier Clemente-Suárez, 2022. "The Effect of Studying a Double Degree in the Psychophysiological Stress Response in the Bachelor’s Thesis Defense," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-11, January.
    2. Yi Ding & Jie Yang & Tingting Ji & Yongyu Guo, 2021. "Women Suffered More Emotional and Life Distress than Men during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Pathogen Disgust Sensitivity," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-9, August.
    3. Michele Borgia & Eugenia Nissi & Maura La Torre & Guido Ortolani, 2022. "The Relationship between Demographics and Knowledge Risk Perception of High School Teachers: Training as a Mediator," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-13, December.
    4. Simone Nomie-Sato & Emilia Condes Moreno & Adriana Rico Villanueva & Pascual Chiarella & Jose Francisco Tornero-Aguilera & Ana Isabel Beltrán-Velasco & Vicente Javier Clemente-Suárez, 2022. "Gender Differences of University Students in the Online Teaching Quality and Psychological Profile during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-10, November.
    5. María Carreira-Míguez & Eduardo Navarro-Jiménez & Vicente Javier Clemente-Suárez, 2022. "Behavioral Patterns of Depression Patients and Control Population," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-13, August.
    6. Zhihao Jia & Yan Gao & Liangyu Zhao & Suyue Han, 2022. "Longitudinal Relationship between Cognitive Function and Health-Related Quality of Life among Middle-Aged and Older Patients with Diabetes in China: Digital Usage Behavior Differences," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-13, September.
    7. Munir Ahmad & Nadeem Akhtar & Gul Jabeen & Muhammad Irfan & Muhammad Khalid Anser & Haitao Wu & Cem Işık, 2021. "Intention-Based Critical Factors Affecting Willingness to Adopt Novel Coronavirus Prevention in Pakistan: Implications for Future Pandemics," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-28, June.
    8. Samantha Garcia & Suellen Hopfer & Elouise Botes & Samuel Greiff, 2022. "Associations between Coronavirus Crisis Perception, Perceived Economic Risk of Coronavirus, General Self-Efficacy, and Coronavirus Anxiety at the Start of the Pandemic: Differences by Gender and Race," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-15, March.
    9. Olatz Lopez-Fernandez, 2021. "Emerging Health and Education Issues Related to Internet Technologies and Addictive Problems," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(1), pages 1-19, January.
    10. Xu, Cheng & Li, KunJing & Li, Chang-Jun & Xu, Hao & Sun, Yanqi, 2024. "Covid-19 pandemic, social normative compliance, and sustainable consumption: Evidence from experiments," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 351(C).
    11. Sadiqa, Bibi Aisha, 2023. "Overcoming Vaccine Skepticism in Pakistan: A Cross-Sectional Study of Public Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behaviors towards COVID-19 Vaccination," MPRA Paper 116204, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 25 Jan 2023.
    12. Elena Korneeva & Wadim Strielkowski & Raisa Krayneva & Anna Sherstobitova, 2022. "Social Health and Psychological Safety of Students Involved in Online Education during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-15, October.
    13. Stephanie Rodriguez-Besteiro & Ana Isabel Beltran-Velasco & José Francisco Tornero-Aguilera & Marina Begoña Martínez-González & Eduardo Navarro-Jiménez & Rodrigo Yáñez-Sepúlveda & Vicente Javier Cleme, 2023. "Social Media, Anxiety and COVID-19 Lockdown Measurement Compliance," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-13, March.
    14. Ning Ding & Xinwen Zhang, 2022. "Bullying Victimization and Quality of Life among Chinese Adolescents: An Integrative Analysis of Internet Addiction and Social Withdrawal," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-13, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:20:p:13377-:d:944309. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.