The Relationship Between Self-Control and Internet Addiction Among Students: A Meta-Analysis

As past studies of self-control and Internet addiction showed mixed results, this meta-analysis of 83 primary studies with 80,681 participants determined whether (a) these students with less self-control had greater Internet addiction, and (b) age, culture, gender, Internet addiction measures, or year moderated these relations. We used a random-effects meta-analysis of Pearson product-moment coefficients r with Fisher's z-transformation and tested for moderation with the homogeneity tests. The results showed a positive link between impulsivity and Internet addiction (r = 0.371, 95% CI = [0.311, 0.427]) and a negative link between restraint and Internet addiction (r = -0.362, 95% CI = [-0.414, -0.307]). The moderation analysis indicated that the correlation between impulsivity indicators and greater Internet addiction was stronger among undergraduates (18-22 years old) than among adolescents (10-17 years old). Furthermore, the negative link between a restraint indicator and Internet addiction was greater (a) among students in East Asia than those in Western Europe/North America, (b) among males than females and (c) when using the Internet addiction measures GPIUS or IAT rather than CIAS. Hence, these results indicate a negative link between self-control and Internet addiction, and this link is moderated by age, culture, gender, and Internet addiction measure.

Automated summary

The study found that students with weaker self-control are more likely to suffer from Internet addiction, with impulsivity showing a positive link and restraint showing a negative link. Moderation analysis revealed differences in this relationship among different groups, such as age, culture, and gender.