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. 2023 Aug 17:14:1176596.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1176596. eCollection 2023.

Internet addiction, loneliness, and academic burnout among Chinese college students: a mediation model

Junwang Gu  1 , Ping Wu  1 , Yating Luo  1 , Xiongkun He  1 , Lei Fu  1 , Hanjie Liu  1 , Fen Lin  1 , Qi Xu  1 , Xuanhui Wu  1
Affiliations

Internet addiction, loneliness, and academic burnout among Chinese college students: a mediation model

Junwang Gu et al. Front Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Background: The dynamics of education and student life have changed since the COVID-19 pandemic. Our society, especially the education system, has become largely dependent on the Internet. This paradigm shifts largely took place in the last few decades. As such, there are various ways in which we cannot comprehend the impact that the Internet can have on student psychology, and how multiple other factors could influence that. Internet addiction and its relationship with academic burnout, along with the impact of loneliness, are all essential factors that must be discussed candidly in the post-COVID-19 era. Hence, the objective of this study was, therefore, to explore the relationship between Internet addiction, loneliness, and academic burnout among Chinese college students as well as the mediating role of loneliness.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional questionnaire survey at a Chinese university from October to November 2022. In total, 810 valid respondents were selected via random cluster sampling using the well-established Internet Addiction, Loneliness, and Academic Burnout Scale. The primary approach of mediation analysis and structural equation modeling testing examined the relationships among the three components.

Results: Internet addiction could be responsible for academic burnout among college students. Loneliness partially mediates the relationship between Internet addiction and academic burnout. In a mediated way, different types of loneliness contribute to different types of academic burnout.

Conclusion: Psychological interventions for loneliness, especially emotional loneliness prevention, are the critical aspects of the problem of Internet addiction accompanied with academic burnout. The causal relationship between Internet addiction and academic burnout, possibly of a two-way nature, needs to be further explored in the next future.

Keywords: Internet addiction; academic burnout; loneliness; mediation model; structural equation modeling.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Theoretical hypothesis model linking Internet addiction to loneliness and academic burnout.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Mediation models. Path coefficients are presented in standardized units, n = 810; ***p < 0.001.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The final structural equation model (model 6). Path coefficients are presented in standardized units, n = 810; ***p < 0.001 and *p < 0.05; the variables e represent the structure residuals.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The sub-models of mediating effects in the final model. (A) Internet addiction could lead to exhaustion through emotional loneliness; (B) Internet addiction could contribute to exhaustion through the chain mediator of “social loneliness via emotional loneliness”; (C) Internet addiction could contribute to exhaustion through the chain mediator of “social loneliness to learning cynicism”; (D) Internet addiction may indirectly lead to learning cynicism through social loneliness; (E) Internet addiction may cause reduced efficacy through emotional loneliness; (F) Internet addiction have the effect of mediating the chain of “social loneliness via emotional loneliness,” leading to reduced efficacy. Path coefficients are presented in standardized units, n=810; ***p< 0.001, *p< 0.05; The variables 705 e represent the structure residuals.
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