Sense of purpose and internet gaming disorder symptoms among college students: a cross-sectional moderated mediation analysis

Abstract

Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) symptoms are a concern among college students, but the cross-sectional associations among sense of purpose, self-control, and IGD symptoms remain unclear. This study examined the statistical indirect association between sense of purpose and IGD symptoms through self-control and whether gender moderated this indirect association. A cross-sectional survey included 1,210 Chinese college students (44.5% male; mean age = 20.00 years, SD = 1.64). Participants completed measures of IGD symptoms (9 items, Cronbach’s α  = 0.949), sense of purpose (14 items, α  = 0.945), and self-control (19 items, α  = 0.892). Age-adjusted PROCESS Models 4 and 14 were estimated using 5,000 bootstrap samples. Sense of purpose was positively associated with self-control ( B  = 0.403, p  < 0.001) and negatively associated with IGD symptoms before self-control was included in the model ( B  = −0.147, p  < 0.001). The statistical indirect association through self-control was significant [ B  = −0.205, 95% bootstrap CI (−0.249, −0.161)], whereas the direct association after accounting for self-control was positive ( B  = 0.058, p  = 0.006). The opposite signs of the indirect and direct coefficients indicated an inconsistent mediation or statistical suppression pattern. Gender moderated the association between self-control and IGD symptoms ( B  = 0.107, p  < 0.001). Conditional indirect associations were −0.224 [95% bootstrap CI (−0.273, −0.175)] for males and −0.181 [95% bootstrap CI (−0.222, −0.141)] for females; the index of moderated mediation was 0.043 [95% bootstrap CI (0.017, 0.070)]. In this cross-sectional sample, sense of purpose was negatively associated with IGD symptoms, and a significant negative statistical indirect association through self-control was observed. This indirect association was stronger among male than female students. These findings describe cross-sectional statistical relationships and should not be interpreted as evidence of temporal or causal mechanisms.