Trait emotional intelligence and problematic online behaviors among adolescents: The mediating role of mindfulness, rumination, and depression

Abstract

Preliminary studies have shown that trait emotional intelligence (trait EI) can be a risk factor for higher problematic use of specific online activities. However, the possible mediating role of mindfulness and rumination on the relationship of trait EI with problematic social media use (PSMU) and problematic online gaming (POG) is unclear. Among a sample of 470 adolescents, the present study examined the direct and indirect associations of trait EI with PSMU and POG and the potential mediational role of mindfulness, rumination, and depression while controlling for gender and age. Multiple mediation analyses indicated that trait EI was indirectly associated with PSMU via mindfulness, rumination, and depression, and with POG via mindfulness and rumination. Furthermore, rumination affected PSMU positively. The study provides empirical evidence of the theoretical assumption that different types of specific problematic online behaviors are related to both shared and specific risk factors.

Trait Emotional Intelligence and Internet Gaming Disorder Among Gamers: The Mediating Role of Online Gaming Motives and Moderating Role of Age Groups

“…The Turkish form of SDHS comprises three items (e.g., "I felt that life was meaningless") on a 4-point Likert scale (from "never" to "often") that assesses individual's levels of depressive feelings (Joseph et al 2004). Former studies have reported optimal validity and reliability of the Turkish form (Kircaburun et al 2019). The scale also showed high internal consistency in the present study (0.88).…”

The Predictive Value of Emotional Intelligence for Internet Gaming Disorder: A 1-Year Longitudinal Study

“…Moreover, all of these studies were only conducted with cross-sectional data. The same limitation of the cross-sectional design was observed among the limited studies ( N = 3) on trait emotional intelligence and IGD [17,19,31], although all three studies consistently found a negative association between trait emotional intelligence and IGD among adolescents/students. To our best knowledge, no published study has reported the longitudinal effects of trait emotional intelligence on IGD.…”

“…Given its high prevalence and negative consequences (e.g., poor academic performance and sleep problems) [6,12,13,14,15], researchers have been allocating increasing attention to identifying the risk and protective factors of IGD [16]. Emotional intelligence was recently proposed as a potential protective factor [17,18,19,20], but only cross-sectional research has tested its buffering effects. We aimed to fill the current research gap by conducting a one-year longitudinal study to determine whether emotional intelligence is a predictor of IGD.…”

Mindfulness and Smartphone Addiction before Going to Sleep among College Students: The Mediating Roles of Self-Control and Rumination

“…Rumination—a type of undesirable reaction—is closely associated with mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, and suicide attempts [ 14 ]. Additionally, some studies have found that rumination is directly positively associated with internet addiction [ 15 , 16 ]. Thus, we can speculate that self-control and rumination are both proximal factors that contribute to smartphone addiction before going to sleep.…”