Abstract
The current study aimed to test the relationship between Internet addiction, loneliness, disordered sleep, and depression among a sample of Iranian university students at the undergraduate level considering the moderating role of gender. Compulsive Internet use was measured using the Internet addiction scale developed by Young. Depression was measured by the depression subscale of the SCL90 and feelings of loneliness were measured using the 3rd Persian version of the UCLA loneliness scale. Disordered sleep was assessed using the Persian version of the quality of sleep scale. Structural equation modelling was employed to test the mediation-moderation models. Primary results show that Internet addiction predicted depression, loneliness predicted disordered sleep and Internet addiction predicted disordered sleep. The roles of mediators have been proved in all models. Gender’s moderating role was not significant in any of the models.
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I would like to thank Dr. Hadi Farhadi for his expert advice and encouragement throughout this project and his assistance in the witting of this article.
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Masaeli, N., Farhadi, H. Internet Addiction and Depression in Iran: Investigating the Mediating Roles of Loneliness and Disordered Sleep and Moderating Role of Gender. Int J Adv Counselling 43, 407–423 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10447-021-09447-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10447-021-09447-9