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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Mental Health
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1416073
This article is part of the Research Topic Youth Mental Health, Particularly in Asian Populations View all 11 articles

The Mediating Role of Social Connectedness and Negative Cognitive Emotion Regulation in Association of Problematic Internet Use and Depression among Adolescents

Provisionally accepted
Jiaqi Xu Jiaqi Xu 1Xia-Can Chen Xia-Can Chen 2Lihua Chen Lihua Chen 3Dan Luo Dan Luo 1Wenxin Bao Wenxin Bao 1Xia Yang Xia Yang 1Junzhe Ran Junzhe Ran 1Jiajun Xu Jiajun Xu 1*
  • 1 Mental Health Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
  • 2 Institute of Forensic Medicine, West China School of Basic Medical Sciences and Forensic Medicine, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
  • 3 Department of Neurology，Nantong Haimen People's Hospital, Nantong, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    While the relationship between adolescent problematic internet use (PIU) and depression has been extensively researched, few studies have investigated the role and mechanisms of social connectedness in this context. This study aimed to investigate the mediating effect of social connectedness (SC) and cognitive emotion regulation, in the relationship between PIU and depression. We conducted a cross-sectional study among 9,407 adolescents aged 12-18 years in China from September 2022 to March 2023. We employed Young's 20-item internet addiction test (IAT-20), Social Connectedness Scale-Revised (SCS-R), Cognitive Emotion Regulation Scale (CER), and DSM5-level 2 Depression Scale to collect mental health outcomes. Logistic regression was performed to examine the independent association between measured variables and depression. Mediation analysis was performed to estimate the mediating role of social connectedness and cognitive emotion regulation, in the relationship between PIU and depression. We found the rate of PIU was 21.8%. The offline SC (indirect effect: 0.112, 95% CI: 0.104-0.121) and negative CER (nCER) (indirect effect: 00.140, 95% CI: 0.129-0.152) mainly played parallel mediating role in the relation between PIU and depression, as well as on_SC (indirect effect: 0.007, 95% CI: 0.005-0.010). These findings provide a new perspective on how PIU influence associated with depression and highlight the importance of enhancing real-life interpersonal interactions. However, the generalizability of this study's findings to other populations may be constrained by cultural factors.

    Keywords: Problematic Internet Use1, depression2, adolescents3, Social Connectedness4, cognitive emotion regulation5, mediation model6

    Received: 12 Apr 2024; Accepted: 09 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Xu, Chen, Chen, Luo, Bao, Yang, Ran and Xu. 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: Jiajun Xu, Mental Health Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China

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