A followup study on academic pressure and Internet addiction of college students in Jiangsu / 中国学校卫生

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To examine the longitudinal relationship between academic pressure and Internet addiction of college students and to provide reference for the development of college students mental health.@*Methods@#In October 2016, a longitudinal 4 waves (T1 to T4) of follow up study was conducted among 5 372 college students from a university in Jiangsu, with an interval of 1 year each time. Academic pressure and Internet addiction were derived from the College Students Mental Health Screening Scale. A cross lag analysis was used to explore the relationship between college students academic pressure and Internet addiction.@*Results@#Repeated measures analysis of variance showed that the main effect of time for academic pressure was significant[ F(3,16 113)= 767.28 , P<0.01,η 2=0.13]. The academic pressure of college students showed a downward trend over time, with the highest at T1 stage and the lowest at T4 stage. The main effect of time for college students Internet addiction was significant[ F(3,16 113)= 165.22 , P<0.01, η 2=0.03]. The Internet addiction of college students showed a trend of decreasing after increasing over time, with the highest stage T2 and the lowest stage T4. The cross lag analysis showed that academic pressure of T1 could significantly predict the Internet addiction of T2, and academic pressure of T3 could significantly predict the Internet addiction of T4, and the path coefficients are 0.07 and 0.07( P <0.01). In addition, the pre test (T n ) Internet addiction can significantly predict the post test [T( n +1)] academic pressure, and the path coefficients were 0.06, 0.06, 0.08( P <0.01).@*Conclusion@#Academic pressure can partially predict Internet addiction among college students, while Internet addiction can also significantly predict academic pressure. Colleges and universities should strengthen the construction of learning style, reduce the academic pressure of students,and reduce the Internet addiction of college students through various ways, so as to promote the healthy development of college students.