Alexithymia, impulsivity and negative mood in relation to internet addiction symptoms in female university students

Figures & data

Table 1. Means, standard deviations and intercorrelations of study variables (N = 116)

Variable	M (SD)	1	2	3	4	5	6
1. IAT score	37.05 (12.39)	-
2. Alexithymia	47.59 (11.71)	.34***	-
3. Impulsivity	60.62 (10.03)	.47***	.47***	-
4. Negative Mood	30.34 (22.40)	.47***	.56***	.46***	-
5. Age (years)	21.39 (3.52)	−.30**	−.17	−.04	−.09	-
6. Education level	2.49 (.61)	−.22*	−.08	−.09	−.06	.61***	-

*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001. IAT, Internet Addiction Test.

Table 2. Hierarchical multiple regression on internet addiction test scores (N = 116)

Predictor	$\mathrm{\Delta }{R}^2$	$\beta$	B	SE B	95% CI for B
Step 1	.09**
Age		−.26*	−.92	.40	[−1.70, −.13]
Education		−.06	−1.20	2.28	[−5.73, 3.33]
Step 2	.09***
Age		−.20	−.72	.38	[−1.47, .04]
Education		−.07	−1.43	2.18	[−5.74, 2.89]
Alexithymia		.31***	.32	.09	[.14, .51]
Step 3	.13***
Age		−.25*	−.87	.36	[−1.57, .-.16]
Education		−.02	−.48	2.02	[−4.49, 3.53]
Alexithymia		.11	.12	.10	[−.07, .31]
Impulsivity		.41***	.50	.11	[.28, .72]
Step 4	.06**
Age		−.25*	−.86	.34	[−1.54, −.19]
Education		−.02	−.49	1.94	[−4.34, 3.36]
Alexithymia		−.02	−.02	.10	[−.23, .18]
Impulsivity		.33***	.40	.11	[.18, .62]
Negative Mood		.31**	1.87	.58	[.73, 3.01]

*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.

Table 3. Mediation of the relationship of TAS-20 alexithymia scores with IAT internet addiction scores by both BIS-11 impulsivity scores and DASS-21 negative affect, controlling for age and education

Direct effects
										95% Confidence interval
			Estimate	Std. error		z-Value	p			Lower	Upper
overall_TAS	→	overall_IAT	−0.005	0.095		−0.055	0.956			−0.192	0.184
Note. Delta method standard errors, bias-corrected percentile bootstrap confidence intervals, ML estimator.
Indirect effects
										95% Confidence interval
					Estimate	Std. error	z-Value	p		Lower	Upper
overall_TAS	→	overall_BIS	→	overall_IAT	0.162	0.051	3.188	0.001		0.076	0.258
overall_TAS	→	overall_DASS_Total	→	overall_IAT	0.149	0.056	2.661	0.008		0.035	0.269
Note. Delta method standard errors, bias-corrected percentile bootstrap confidence intervals, ML estimator.
Total effects
										95% Confidence interval
				Estimate	Std. error	z-Value	p			Lower	Upper
overall_TAS	→		overall_IAT	0.305	0.085	3.581	<.001			0.130	0.466
Note. Delta method standard errors, bias-corrected percentile bootstrap confidence intervals, ML estimator.
Total indirect effects
										95% Confidence interval
				Estimate	Std. error	z-Value	p			Lower	Upper
overall_TAS	→		overall_IAT	0.311	0.069	4.469	<.001			0.174	0.481
Note. Delta method standard errors, bias-corrected percentile bootstrap confidence intervals, ML estimator.

Figure 1. Mediation model showing significant paths after controlling for age and education. The direct effect without mediators is shown in parentheses. ***p < .001