The relationship between specific problematic internet use and hope: academic exhaustion as mediator and mattering as moderator among Chinese university students

Chen, X-M, Ning, Y-f, Flett, GL, Liao, X-L, Gamble, JH, Li, L, Jiang, X-Y, Chen, I-H, Griffiths, M ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8880-6524, Lin, P-J and Lin, C-Y, 2025. The relationship between specific problematic internet use and hope: academic exhaustion as mediator and mattering as moderator among Chinese university students. BMC Psychology, 13: 194. ISSN 2050-7283

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Abstract

Problematic social media use (PSMU) and problematic gaming (PG) among university students as specific types of problematic internet use (PIU) have become a growing concern. PSMU and PG may lead to negative outcomes such as academic exhaustion and diminished hope. However, previous studies have not simultaneously considered the associations among these variables from the perspective of Stressor-Strain-Outcome model. Furthermore, the concept of 'mattering'—the feeling of being valued and important to others and 'fear of not mattering' in this dynamic is notably under-investigated. The present study aimed to examine the associations among these variables and evaluated whether mattering profiles moderated the associations involving PIU among university students.

A survey was conducted among 3,035 university students in China, with an average age of 19.24 years (SD = 1.83). The sample included 52% males and 48% females from 19 different universities. The Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale, the Internet Gaming Disorder Scale-Short Form, the General Mattering Scale, the Fear of Not Mattering Inventory, the Maslach Burnout Inventory–Student Survey, and the Dispositional Hope Scale were utilized to evaluate PSMU, PG, general mattering, fear of not mattering, academic exhaustion, and hope, respectively. Furthermore, latent profile analysis was used to categorize students into distinct mattering profiles based on measures of general mattering and fear of not mattering to others.

Correlational analyses indicated that PSMU and PG were associated with greater academic exhaustion, reduced hope, and higher levels of fear of not mattering. Mediation analysis identified academic exhaustion as a mediator in the relationships between PSMU and hope, as well as between PG and hope. Profile analyses identified a group of students distinguished by exceptionally low levels of general mattering. Mattering profiles acted as moderators of the associations between PG and academic exhaustion, and between academic exhaustion and hope.

PG negatively affected students' hope through academic exhaustion, while different mattering profiles had diverse associations. Customized intervention strategies focused on boosting hope and feelings of mattering, and reducing fears of not mattering are needed to reduce vulnerability to PG and PSMU.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	BMC Psychology
Creators:	Chen, X.-M., Ning, Y.-F., Flett, G.L., Liao, X.-L., Gamble, J.H., Li, L., Jiang, X.-Y., Chen, I.-H., Griffiths, M., Lin, P.-J. and Lin, C.-Y.
Publisher:	Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date:	4 March 2025
Volume:	13
ISSN:	2050-7283
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1186/s40359-025-02500-x DOI 2406071 Other
Rights:	© The Author(s) 2025. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
Divisions:	Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by:	Melissa Cornwell
Date Added:	14 Mar 2025 15:24
Last Modified:	14 Mar 2025 15:24
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/53246

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