Loneliness and problematic internet use: testing the role of interpersonal problems and motivation for internet use

BACKGROUND: A number of factors have been demonstrated to be associated with Problematic Internet Use (PIU); otherwise known as Internet Addiction), which is mostly concerned with psychological problems such as loneliness. This study aimed to examine how and in what way loneliness influenced PIU. METHODS: A self-report measurement on loneliness, the Internet addiction test (IAT) and instruments on interpersonal problems were administered to 318 medical students (57% females); mean age totaled 20.88 years (SD = 1.8). We performed a mediation analysis to evaluate direct effects of loneliness on IAT, as well as indirect effects mediated by interpersonal problems. In addition, motivation for internet use was added to the mediation model and tested whether it acted as the second mediator (serial mediation model) or a moderator (moderated mediation model). RESULTS: After controlling for sex and age, socially inhibited problems exhibited full mediation whereas the remainder showed partial mediation effects, with the exception that intrusive and cold interpersonal problems indicated no mediating role. Negative motivation and motivation for being accepted had mediation effects for all types of interpersonal problems. Motivation for working was found to be a significant mediator and moderator of the most interpersonal problems. Intrusive and cold styles became a mediator only when some motivation variables were added to the model, implying that not only psychological problems should be included when analyzing PIU, but also other variables such motivation for internet use. The percent of variance explained, by IAT score, increased from 13% in the mediation model to 33% by the moderated mediation model, and 43% using the serial mediation model. CONCLUSION: The study suggested the crucial role of loneliness and interpersonal problems on PIU, for which motivation for internet use explained how each interpersonal problem would be associated. This may provide some insight regarding the pathological characteristics of those using the internet as a coping strategy. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12888-021-03457-y.