Problematic Internet Use Predicts Lesser Satisfaction with Life, but Psychological Distress Acts as a Mediator

Aug 12, 2025Cyberpsychology, behavior and social networking

Problematic Internet Use Linked to Lower Life Satisfaction, Partly Through Increased Psychological Distress

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Abstract

A total of 7,536 participants were analyzed, revealing that psychological distress may mediate the relationship between problematic internet use (PIU) and satisfaction with life (SWL).

Problematic internet use is associated with psychosocial impairments, such as anxiety and depression.
Psychological distress appears to mediate the relationship between PIU and overall satisfaction with life.
The direct positive effect of PIU on satisfaction with life becomes moderate and negative when considering psychological distress.
Findings are consistent across six European countries, suggesting a potential commonality in the impacts of PIU.

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Problematic internet use (PIU) has emerged, from the extensive use of the internet, as a concept to describe and understand the more adverse influences of digitalization on people's experiences. PIU refers to compulsive or excessive internet use leading to psychosocial impairments (among others, anxiety, depression, lesser well-being), and it has been studied from diverse perspectives. However, the mechanisms through which PIU could exert its impact on broader satisfaction with life (SWL) remain unclear. The present work postulates that psychological distress acts as a mediator between PIU and SWL. This hypothesis is tested in large participant groups (= 7,536), representative of the normative population of six European countries in terms of age and gender. In the context of full structural equation modeling, analyses of direct and indirect effects show evidence for partial mediation of psychological distress between PIU and SWL, with the small positive direct effect of PIU on SWL reversing its valence to moderate and negative via the mediation of psychological distress in all six countries. These findings show that psychological distress is relevant to consider both in trying to define the limits of PIU as a construct and in considering its impacts on SWL in general. N

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Problematic Internet Use Predicts Lesser Satisfaction with Life, but Psychological Distress Acts as a Mediator

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