Affective and cognitive drivers explain current and future symptoms of problematic usage of the internet.
Objective: Problematic usage of the internet (PUI) is a steadily growing public health issue that requires better understanding of the underlying psychological mechanisms to optimize prevention and treatment. This study aimed at investigating affective and cognitive processes that may explain sympto...
| Publicado en: | Comprehensive Psychiatry Vol. 148 |
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| Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , , |
| Formato: | research Journal Article |
| Publicado: |
Elsevier B.V.
Jun2026
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=194426953&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ccm uiTerm: 194426953 longDbName: CINAHL Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: dissinfo: jinfo: jid: 0010440X L9O jtl: Comprehensive Psychiatry issn: 0010440X maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Jun2026 vid: 148 pid: 82545 pub: Elsevier B.V. place: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania artinfo: ui: 194426953 194426953 194426953 10.1016/j.comppsych.2026.152697 194426953 ppct: 1 formats: tig: atl: Affective and cognitive drivers explain current and future symptoms of problematic usage of the internet. aug: au: Brand, Matthias Brandtner, Annika Antons, Stephanie Müller, Astrid Stark, Rudolf Fineberg, Naomi A. Potenza, Marc N. Steins-Loeber, Sabine Wegmann, Elisa Müller, Silke M. affil: General Psychology: Cognition, Faculty of Computer Science, University of Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg, Germany sug: subj: Internet Addiction Symptoms Cognition Affect Human Cross Sectional Studies Prospective Studies Cues Reinforcement (Psychology) Emotions Impulsive Behavior Task Performance and Analysis Surveys ab: Objective: Problematic usage of the internet (PUI) is a steadily growing public health issue that requires better understanding of the underlying psychological mechanisms to optimize prevention and treatment. This study aimed at investigating affective and cognitive processes that may explain symptoms of PUI cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Methods: A comprehensive face-to-face laboratory assessment with individuals with varying types and degrees of PUI (N = 819) was conducted, including a structured diagnostic interview to measure PUI symptoms, multiple neurocognitive tasks, a cue-reactivity paradigm, and questionnaires, which were administered in the same manner to all participants. This was complemented by a six-month follow-up survey (N = 528). Results: Based on theoretical considerations, the comprehensive model-testing empirically confirmed three interconnected potential pathways to PUI: an affective pathway ("feels better") including positive and negative reinforcement and emotional responses to internet-related stimuli, an impulsivity and behavior automatization pathway ("must do") including both affective and cognitive processes, and a cognitive control pathway potentially preventing PUI, whereby reductions in general and specific control functions contribute to PUI (difficulties in "stop now" operations resulting in "can't stop" feelings). These affective and cognitive mechanisms explain 63.5% of PUI symptoms at baseline, and 42.3% at the six-month follow-up assessment. Conclusions: Clinicians should systematically assess the main drivers of PUI in their patients and then choose the optimal interventions to specifically target the pathway(s), e.g., by combining classical cognitive-behavioral therapy with specific affective and/or cognitive trainings. • Problematic usage of the internet (PUI) is driven by three interconnected pathways. • The pathways include feels-better, must-do, and can't stop drivers. • The three pathways explain a high proportion of 63.5% of the variance of PUI symptoms. • These affective and cognitive drivers predict 42.3% of PUI symptoms six months later. • Knowledge about the affective and cognitive drivers inform treatment optimization. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: research Journal Article ougenre: Article language: English refInfo: holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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