The Relationship Between Self-compassion and Internet Addiction With the Mediating Role of Stress Coping Strategies in the University Students

Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD) is characterized by excessive or poorly controlled preoccupations or behaviors regarding that Internet use that leads to impairment or distress. IAD, as a behavioral addiction, has many negative consequences affecting mental health, physical health, and interpersonal relationships. The findings showed that self–compassion is one of the characteristics that can reduce the risk of Internet addiction. Since one of the reasons for the development and continuation of addictive behaviors is stress, the coping strategies employed by people can also affect the risk of Internet addiction. In the task-oriented coping strategy, the individual tries to solve the problem, but in the emotion-oriented coping strategy, the individual tries to reduce negative emotions and avoid stressful situations using the avoidance strategy. The relevant research shows that people using maladaptive coping strategies are more likely to become addicted to the Internet. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the mediating role of stress coping strategies in the relationship between self–compassion and the risk of IAD.

The present research method was a correlational study using the path analysis method. The statistical population of the present study consisted of the students of Tehran University, Farabi Campus (Qom), studying in the 2018–2019 academic year. Considering the criteria for determining the sample size, 230 students were selected using the available sampling method to complete the research questionnaires. However, 212 questionnaires were returned, and their information was analyzed. The inclusion criterion for the students was access to the Internet (having a smartphone or computer). The exclusion criteria for students were as follows: no access to the Internet and incomplete return of the questionnaires. The Self–Compassion Scale (Neff, 2003), Internet Addiction Questionnaire (Young, 1998), and Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (Endler and Parker, 1990) were used to collect the information. To analyze data, we used descriptive statistics indicators (mean and standard deviation) and the Pearson correlation method and path analysis in SPSS 26 and AMOS 24 software. All statistical analyzes were performed at a significance level of 0.05.

The results of path analysis showed that the path coefficient of self–compassion to the task-oriented coping strategy was positive and significant (p=0.007, b=0.42), and the path coefficient of self–compassion to the emotion-oriented coping strategy was negative and significant (p=0.001, b=–0.65). The path coefficient of task-oriented coping strategy to Internet addiction was negative and significant (p=0.009, b=–0.31), and the path coefficient of emotion-oriented coping strategy to Internet addiction was positive and significant (p=0.007, b=0.44). Self–compassion had no direct effect on Internet addiction; instead, the indirect path coefficient of self–compassion through the mediation of task-oriented and emotion-oriented coping strategies with Internet addiction was negative and significant (p=0.006, b=–0.42). Moreover, the fit indices of the model showed a good fit of the final and modified model with the data (χ2=0.038, p=0.84, GFI=0.99, CFI=0.99, NFI=0.98, RMSEA=0.002).

Findings show that self–compassion can only affect the risk of Internet addiction through task-oriented and emotion-oriented coping strategies. It is helpful to consider these effective mechanisms in preventing and diagnosing IAD.