Self-Control and Problematic Internet Use in College Students: The Chain Mediating Effect of Rejection Sensitivity and Loneliness

Figures & data

Table 1 Descriptive Statistics and Correlation Matrix of Each Variable (n=725)

	M	SD	1	2	3	4	5	6
1 Gender^a	—	—	1.00
2 Age	20.26	1.34	−0.10**	1.00
3 Self-control	3.39	0.58	−0.13**	0.11**	1.00
4 Rejection Sensitivity	10.01	2.81	0.10**	−0.09**	−0.42***	1.00
5 Loneliness	1.89	0.68	0.10**	−0.08**	−0.74***	0.56***	1.00
6 problematic internet use	2.26	0.66	−0.01	−0.04	−0.64***	0.17***	0.56***	1.00

Notes: Gender^a is the dummy variable, Male = 0, Female = 1. **p<0.01, ***p<0.001.

Table 2 Chain Mediation Model Between Self-Control and Problematic Internet Use (n=725)

Variable	Rejection Sensitivity			Loneliness			Problematic Internet Use
	β	SE	t	β	SE	t	β	SE	t
Gender	0.09	0.07	1.26	−0.21	0.05	−0.47	−0.18	0.06	−3.20*
Age	−0.03	0.03	−1.33	0.01	0.02	0.55	0.01	0.02	0.22
Self-control	−0.41	0.03	−11.94***	−0.62	0.03	−23.98***	−0.53	0.04	−13.04***
Rejection Sensitivity				0.31	0.03	12.01***	0.20	0.03	6.01***
Loneliness							0.28	0.04	6.45***
R^2	0.18			0.62			0.47
F	52.46***			292.15***			125.10***

Notes: *p<0.05, ***p<0.001.

Table 3 Chain Mediated Effect Test of Rejection Sensitivity and Loneliness on Self-Control and PIU

	Effect	BootSE	BootLLCI	BootULCI	Relative Mediation Effect
Indirect effect 1 (Self-control→Rejection Sensitivity→PIU)	−0.08	0.02	−0.12	−0.05	9.76%
Indirect effect 2 (Self-control→Loneliness→PIU)	−0.17	0.04	−0.25	−0.11	20.73%
Indirect effect 3 (Self-control→Rejection Sensitivity→Loneliness→PIU)	−0.04	0.01	−0.05	−0.02	4.88%
Total indirect effect	−0.29	0.04	−0.21	−0.06	35.37%

Notes: BootSE, BootLLCI, and BootULCI refer to the standard error of indirect effect estimated by percentile Bootstrap method of deviation correction and the lower and upper limits of the 95% confidence interval, respectively.

Figure 1 Schematic of chain mediation between rejection sensitivity and loneliness. ***p<0.001.