Abstract

In this study, we evaluated the mediating effect of perceived social support in the path of depression and anxiety on Internet dependence during the COVID-19 pandemic in people who had psychological or addiction behavior problems before the pandemic’s outbreak. We recruited 140 adults who had been diagnosed with or consulted for psychological or addiction problems before the outbreak of COVID-19 (average age=31.97, SD=8.94, male 30%), and conducted two online surveys every six months. For the measurement of each variable of COVID-19 impact, the Korean version of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-4), the Social Support Scale (MSPSS), and the Adult Internet Addiction Self-Diagnosis Brief Scale (KS-A) were used. We conducted descriptive statistics and correlation analysis for the collected data using the SPSS 26.0 program and verified the mediating effect through hierarchical regression analysis. We found that high levels of depression and anxiety led to low perceived social support, and low social support showed a complete mediating effect that led to high Internet dependence. These findings suggest that people who were vulnerable to psychological and addiction behavior before COVID-19 were at high risk of becoming overdependent on the Internet because of COVID-19. Therefore, these individuals need special screening and intervention, and prior measures to reduce the level of depression and anxiety will be needed to intervene in the overreliance on the Internet of the psychologically vulnerable groups. Furthermore, it is suggested that since the role of perceived social support is important in the path where depression and anxiety in vulnerable groups lead to Internet overdependence, it can effectively intervene in Internet overdependence by enhancing the ability to perceive social support through sessions such as psychotherapy or psychological counseling.