Relationship between Difficulty in Emotion Regulation and Internet Addiction in College Students: A One-Year Prospective Study

Jui-Kang Tsai, Wei-Hsin Lu, Ray C. Hsiao, Huei-Fan Hu and Cheng-Fang Yen
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Jui-Kang Tsai: Department of Psychiatry, Kaohsiung Armed Forces General Hospital, Kaohsiung 80284, Taiwan
Wei-Hsin Lu: Department of Psychiatry, Ditmanson Medical Foundation Chia-Yi Christian Hospital, Chia-Yi City 60002, Taiwan
Ray C. Hsiao: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA 98105, USA
Huei-Fan Hu: Department of Psychiatry, Tainan Municipal Hospital (managed by Show Chwan Medical Care Corporation), Tainan 70173, Taiwan
Cheng-Fang Yen: Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine and Graduate Institute of Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 80708, Taiwan

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 13, 1-11

Abstract: This prospective study evaluated the predictive effect of difficulty in emotion regulation on the occurrence and remission of Internet addiction (IA) and determined whether IA has a role in changing emotion regulation among college students during a follow-up period of 1 year. A total of 500 college students (262 women and 238 men) were recruited. In baseline and follow-up investigations, the levels of IA and difficulty in emotion regulation were evaluated using the Chen Internet Addiction Scale and the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), respectively. The results indicated that the subscale of impulse control difficulties on the DERS predicted the incidence of IA during the follow-up period of 1 year in male participants ( t = −2.875, p = 0.005), whereas no subscale on the DERS predicted the remission of IA. IA did not predict the change in difficulties in emotion regulation. The subscale of impulse control difficulties on the DERS predicted the occurrence of IA in the college students and warrants early intervention.

Keywords: internet addiction; emotion regulation; college student (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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