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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Addictive Disorders
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1555372
Internet addiction and its association with quality of life in college students: a network perspective Running head: Internet addiction in college students
Provisionally accepted
LI-YA A 1*
Meng-Yi Chen 1 Yuan-Yuan Jiang 1 Hui-Ting Huang 1
Shou Liu 2
Yuan Feng 3
Xiaoli Zhang 1*
Zhaohui Su 4
Teris Cheung 5
Chee H Ng 6
Yu-Tao Xiang 1
Gang Wang 3- 1 Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Macau, Macau, Shanghai Municipality, China
- 2 Department of Public Health, Qinghai University Medical College, Xining, Qinghai Province, China
- 3 National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, Beijing Anding Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
- 4 School of Public Health, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
- 5 School of Nursing, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China
- 6 Department of Psychiatry, The Melbourne Clinic and St Vincent's Hospital, University of Melbourne, Richmond, Victoria, Australia
Background: Internet addiction (IA), especially in young people, has gained increasing attention in recent years. This study examined the prevalence of IA and its associated factors, relationship with quality of life (QoL) and network structure among college students. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted between September and December 2023 in China. Internet addiction symptoms were assessed using the Internet Addiction Test (IAT). Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to explore the correlates of IA. The relationship between IA and QoL was examined using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). The Expected Influence (EI) centrality index was used in the network model to characterize the structure of IA symptoms. Conclusion: Internet addiction was common among Chinese college students. Interventions targeting the most central symptoms and those closely associated with QoL should be developed to address IA in college students and improve the QoL of those with IA in this population.
Keywords: college students, Internet addiction, Network analysis, Prevalence, Quality of Life
Received: 04 Jan 2025; Accepted: 03 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 A, Chen, Jiang, Huang, Liu, Feng, Zhang, Su, Cheung, Ng, Xiang and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
LI-YA A, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Macau, Macau, Shanghai Municipality, China
Xiaoli Zhang, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Macau, Macau, Shanghai Municipality, China
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