Department of Dynamic, Clinical & Health Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy.
Faculty of Psychology, International Telematic University Uninettuno, 00185 Rome, Italy.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Oct 29;18(21):11382. doi: 10.3390/ijerph182111382.
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 = 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.
国际研究强调，在 COVID-19 大流行期间，新兴成年人的互联网和 Instagram 成瘾问题令人担忧地增加。尽管已经证明了 COVID-19 引起的述情障碍和心理困扰所起的作用，但尚无研究探讨它们在预测新兴成年人互联网和 Instagram 成瘾方面的复杂关系。本研究旨在验证在 COVID-19 大流行期间的创伤后应激障碍是否在新兴成年人的述情障碍和他们的互联网/Instagram 成瘾之间起中介作用，研究样本由 400 名意大利新兴成年人组成。结果表明，女性比男性经历更高的 COVID-19 创伤后应激障碍，而男性比女性表现出更高的外向思维和更高的互联网成瘾水平。新兴成年人因 COVID-19 而产生的心理困扰显著中介了述情障碍对互联网和 Instagram 成瘾的影响。我们的研究结果支持在个体脆弱性和其他心理困难的共同发生之间存在动态关系，这有助于预测大流行期间新兴成年人的互联网和 Instagram 成瘾，具有重要的临床意义。
