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. 2021 Oct 29;18(21):11382.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph182111382.

How Does Psychological Distress Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic Impact on Internet Addiction and Instagram Addiction in Emerging Adults?

Giulia Ballarotto  1 , Eleonora Marzilli  1 , Luca Cerniglia  2 , Silvia Cimino  1 , Renata Tambelli  1
Affiliations

How Does Psychological Distress Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic Impact on Internet Addiction and Instagram Addiction in Emerging Adults?

Giulia Ballarotto et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

International research has underlined a worrying increase in Internet and Instagram addiction among emerging adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the role played by alexithymia and psychological distress due to COVID-19 has been evidenced, no study has explored their complex relationship in predicting emerging adults' Internet and Instagram addiction. The present study aimed to verify whether peritraumatic distress due to the COVID-19 pandemic mediated the relationship between emerging adults' alexithymia and their Internet/Instagram addiction, in a sample composed of n = 400 Italian emerging adults. Results showed that females had higher peritraumatic distress due to COVID-19 than males, whereas males had higher externally oriented thinking and higher levels of Internet addiction than females. Emerging adults' psychological distress due to COVID-19 significantly mediated the effect of alexithymia on Internet and Instagram addiction. Our findings supported the presence of a dynamic relationship between individual vulnerabilities and the co-occurrence of other psychological difficulties in predicting emerging adults' Internet and Instagram addiction during the pandemic, with important clinical implications.

Keywords: COVID-19; Instagram addiction; emerging adulthood; internet addiction; peritraumatic distress.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Mediation model to be tested.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Mediation of emerging adults’ peritraumatic distress due to COVID on the relationship between their levels of alexithymia and Internet addiction. Coefficients shown are standardized path coefficients. c’ = direct effect; c = total effect. * p < 0.001.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Mediation of emerging adults’ peritraumatic distress due to COVID on the relationship between their levels of alexithymia and Instagram addiction. Coefficients shown are standardized path coefficients. c’ = direct effect; c = total effect. * p < 0.001.
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