Hygiene and Preventive Medicine
Psychological flexibility as a mediator between type-D personality and pathological internet use in university students
Fei Huang, Linxin Guo, Xuemei Zhu, Zhuohong Zhu
Published 2017-12-20
Cite as Chin J Behav Med & Brain Sci, 2017, 26(12): 1123-1126. DOI: 10.3760/cma.j.issn.1674-6554.2017.12.013
Abstract
ObjectiveTo explore the mediating effect of psychological flexibility in the relationship between the two dimensions of type-D personality (negative affect and social inhibition) and pathological internet use.
Methods592 university students were sampled from central China district and were administered with Adolescent Pathological Internet Use Scale (APIUS), Type-D personality scale (DS14) and Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-Second Edition (AAQ-Ⅱ).
ResultsPathological internet use (2.56±0.61) positively correlated with negative affect (1.58±0.78) and social inhibition (1.96±0.61) (r=0.37, 0.25) respectively, and negatively correlated with psychological flexibility (4.69±1.15) (r=-0.40). Path analysis with latent variables showed psychological flexibility partially but significantly mediated the predictive effect of negative affect and social inhibition on pathological internet use.The mediation rates were 56% for negative affect and 62% for social inhibition.
ConclusionPsychological flexibility has significant incremental validity beyond two dimensions of type-D personality, and partially mediated the effect of negative affect and social inhibition on pathological internet use.These results suggest the intervention focus of PIU can be psychological flexibility.
Key words:
Pathological internet use; Type D personality; Acceptance and action questionnaire-second edition; Psychological flexibility
Contributor Information
Fei Huang
School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior, Ministry of Education, Wuhan 430079, China
Linxin Guo
School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior, Ministry of Education, Wuhan 430079, China
Xuemei Zhu
School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior, Ministry of Education, Wuhan 430079, China
Zhuohong Zhu
Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
