Frontiers in psychology
The association between physical activity and internet addiction in college students: a serial mediation analysis of interoceptive awareness and emotion regulation difficulties
By Gong H and Yang Y.
Abstract
Purpose
This study examined the association between physical activity and internet addiction among college students and tested the indirect associations of interoceptive awareness and emotion regulation difficulties using a serial mediation model.
Methods
A cross-sectional online survey was conducted among 677 Chinese college students. Standardized instruments were used to assess physical activity, interoceptive awareness, emotion regulation difficulties, and internet addiction. Descriptive statistics, correlation analyses, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and serial mediation analyses were performed using SPSS 27.0 and Mplus 8.3. Indirect associations and their confidence intervals were estimated using 5,000 bootstrap resamples. Continuous and nonlinear PA specifications, alternative scoring, and measurement checks were added.