How computer and Internet use influences mental health: a five-wave latent growth model

Abstract

The study used a five-wave latent growth model to compare two sets of competing hypotheses about the influence of overall computer and Internet use on mental health. The secondary data set from the Korean Youth Panel Survey (KYPS) with a valid sample size of 2,003 respondents was used for the analysis. The mediating role of friendship–closeness was examined to compare the social augmentation hypothesis with the social displacement hypothesis. The mediating role of academic stress was tested to compare the mood enhancement hypothesis with the problematic Internet use (PIU) model. The study was consistent with the social displacement hypothesis, where a higher initial computer and Internet use predicted a lower initial friendship–closeness, which, in turn, resulted in a faster decrease in mental health. The study provided reconciliation for the mood enhancement hypothesis and the PIU model. Although a higher initial computer and Internet use predicted lower initial mental health levels through academic stress, schoolchildren and adolescents with more computer and Internet use experienced a slower decrease in mental health because of the mediating role of academic stress.

Keywords:

• computer and Internet use
• mental health
• friendship–closeness
• academic stress

Acknowledgement

The author would like to thank Prof. Nam Jun Kang, Dr. Young Min Baek, and Dr. Sung Joong Kim for their advice and help.

Notes

1. The National Youth Policy Institute (NYPI) conducted the Korean Youth Panel Survey (KYPS). NYPI is a Korean government-funded national research institute, which carries out academic and applied research on Korean children and adolescents to promote relevant policy establishment and development. KYPS includes two sets of national data. The first set of data was collected from 2004 to 2008, comprising participants who were in the fourth grade of elementary school in 2004. The second set of data was collected from 2003 to 2008, comprising participants who were in the second grade of middle school in 2003. The current study used the first set of data. Both sets of data are publicly available on the official website of NYPI. The questionnaires of KYPS covered diverse aspects of the lives of Korean children and adolescents, including media use, school performance, mental health, social relationships and the like.