Temporal associations between physical activity and three types of problematic use of the internet: a six-month longitudinal study

Huang, P-C, Chen, J-S, Potenza, MN, Griffiths, MD ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8880-6524, Pakpour, AH, Chen, J-K, Lin, Y-C, Hung, C-H, O'Brien, KS and Lin, C-Y, 2022. Temporal associations between physical activity and three types of problematic use of the internet: a six-month longitudinal study. Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 11 (4), pp. 1055-1067. ISSN 2062-5871

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Abstract

Background and aims: Internet use has become an important part of daily living. However, for a minority it may become problematic. Moreover, problematic use of the Internet/smartphone (PUIS) has been associated with low physical activity. The present study investigated the temporal associations between three types of PUIS (i.e., problematic smartphone use [PSPU], problematic social media use [PSMU] and problematic gaming [PG]) and physical activity among Taiwanese university students.

Methods: A six-month longitudinal survey study comprising three time points for assessments was conducted. From the original 974 participants, a total of 452 completed all three waves of an online survey comprising the International Physical Activity Questionnaire Short Form (IPAQ-SF) assessing physical activity level, Smartphone Application-Based Addiction Scale (SABAS) assessing PSPU, Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS) assessing PSMU, and Internet Gaming Disorder Short Form (IGDS9-SF) assessing PG.

Results: The linear mixed effects model found positive temporal associations of PSMU and PG with physical activity level (PSMU: B = 85.88, SE = 26.24; P = 0.001; PG: B = 36.81, SE = 15.17; P = 0.02). PSPU was not associated with physical activity level (B = 40.54, SE = 22.99; P = 0.08). Additionally, the prevalence rates were 44.4% for at-risk/PSPU, 24.6% for at-risk/PSMU, and 12.3% for at-risk/PG.

Discussion and Conclusions: PSMU and PG unexpectedly demonstrated correlations with higher physical activity level. The nature of these relationships warrants additional investigation into the underlying mechanisms in order to promote healthy lifestyles among university students.

Item Type: Journal article
Publication Title: Journal of Behavioral Addictions
Creators: Huang, P.-C., Chen, J.-S., Potenza, M.N., Griffiths, M.D., Pakpour, A.H., Chen, J.-K., Lin, Y.-C., Hung, C.-H., O'Brien, K.S. and Lin, C.-Y.
Publisher: Akademiai Kiado Zrt.
Date: 27 December 2022
Volume: 11
Number: 4
ISSN: 2062-5871
Identifiers:
Number
Type
10.1556/2006.2022.00084
DOI
1622981
Other
Rights: © 2022 The Author(s). Open Access.. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium for non-commercial purposes, provided the original author and source are credited, a link to the CC License is provided, and changes – if any – are indicated.
Divisions: Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by: Linda Sullivan
Date Added: 29 Nov 2022 10:13
Last Modified: 10 Feb 2023 10:37
URI: https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/47528

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