Generalised anxiety as a mediator linking ADHD symptoms and autistic traits to digital addictions in Australian emerging adults
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Background and aims
Digital addiction is highly prevalent among emerging adults and is associated with significant detrimental health outcomes. Through the lens of the Interaction of Person-Affect-Cognition-Execution model, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms and autistic traits may increase vulnerability to digital addictions both directly through executive functioning deficits and indirectly through affective-cognitive processes such as anxiety. This study estimated whether internet, mobile phone, and video game addictions were represented by a common latent construct, estimated the associations of ADHD symptoms, autistic traits, generalised anxiety, and participant sex with these addictions, and estimated the extent to which anxiety mediated associations of ADHD symptoms and autistic traits with these addictions.
Design
Cross-sectional observational study.
Setting
Online survey conducted at Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.
Participants
The analyses included 222 emerging adults aged 17–29 years (77.0% female) recruited between July and October 2015.
Measurements
The primary outcomes were the Internet Addiction Test (IAT), Mobile Phone Problem Use Scale (MPPUS), and Video Game Addiction Test (VAT). Predictors included the Autism Spectrum Quotient–10 (AQ-10), Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale v1.1 screener (ASRS-S), Generalised Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), and participant sex.
Findings
Internet, mobile phone, and video game addictions were not well represented by a single latent construct. GAD-7 was positively associated with AQ-10 ( B = 0.20, 95% confidence interval [CI] [0.04, 0.37], p = .020) and ASRS-S ( B = 0.54, CI [0.38, 0.70], p < .001). GAD-7 was positively associated with VAT ( B = 0.63, CI [0.23, 1.00], p = .003), but neither IAT nor MPPUS. ASRS-S showed positive direct effects across IAT ( B = 0.56, CI [0.08, 0.99], p = .024), MPPUS ( B = 2.63, CI [1.06, 4.08], p < .001), and VAT ( B = 0.41, CI [0.06, 0.78], p = .024), and a small-to-moderate positive indirect effect on VAT through GAD-7 ( B = 0.35, CI [0.12, 0.60], p = .013). Sex did not moderate the associations between GAD-7 and digital addictions. Females reported higher MPPUS ( B = 13.16, CI [6.17, 19.69], p < .001) and lower VAT ( B = −5.22, CI [−7.00, −3.48], p < .001) scores than males.
Conclusions
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms were associated with all three forms of digital addiction and showed an indirect association with video game addiction through generalised anxiety, consistent with the proposed mechanisms in the Interaction of Person-Affect-Cognition-Execution model.
