Internet use expectancy for tension reduction and disinhibition mediates the relationship between borderline personality disorder features and Internet addiction among college students – One-year follow-up

Highlights

• BPD features (T1) was significantly correlated with IA severity (T2).

• BPD features (T1) was significantly correlated with IUETRD (T2).

• Internet use expectancy fully mediated the relationship between BPD (T1) and IA (T2).

Abstract

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) features with affective instability and impulsivity have been shown to correlate with Internet addiction (IA) in cross-sectional studies. Moreover, Internet use expectancies were found to be positively associated with IA. Thus, this follow-up study was aimed to examine whether BPD features would increase the risk for IA severity, mediated through the Internet use expectation as a coping method for tension reduction and disinhibition.

1826 Taiwan college students were sampled through a stratified and random clustering in time 1 (T1), and 623 students were followed up one year later (T2). A comprehensive survey was administered.

Structure equation modeling results showed that IA severity (T2) was significantly predicted by BPD features (T1), fully mediated through Internet use expectancy for tension reduction and disinhibition (T2). The model yielded an adequate fit, and was able to explain 43.0% of the variance.

The mediating role of the Internet use expectation for tension reduction and disinhibition in the relationship between BPD features and IA severity were discussed.

Introduction

The college population appears to be more vulnerable to develop Internet dependence due to their free and unrestricted access, and a need for sense of control through their process of developing a firm perception of identity (Kandell, 1998). With the freedom of unlimited boundary in the virtual world, the lack of monitoring and censoring of what individuals can say or do online have resulted in the development of behaviors in which one may act and interact with others in strange ways that they might have done otherwise in the real world. Past literature found 3.2%–13% of undergraduate college students show IA (Kuss, Griffiths, & Binder, 2013; Morahan-Martin and Schumaker, 2000, Young, 1998). Findings in China indicate an IA prevalence of 6.9% (Jiang, Zhu, Ye, & Lin, 2012) to 9.98% (Yan, Li, & Sui, 2013) among college students; in Taiwan, 17.9% of college freshmen (Tsai et al., 2009) and 15.3% of college students (Lin, Ko, & Wu, 2011) reported to having IA.

Furthermore, individuals with certain personality traits have been noted to be more vulnerable to the development of IA and related IA activities (Black et al., 1999, Morahan-Martin and Schumaker, 2000; Shapira et al., 2000, Yang et al., 2005). A study conducted on 271 Turkish university students found that borderline personality features (BPF) severity predicted IA severity (Dalbudak, Evren, Aldemir, & Evren, 2014). Under the assumption that BPD may prefer the anonymity of the Internet as a social setting due to their issues of interpersonal closeness and distance, Blumer and Renneberg (2010) surveyed 244 Internet users and found that people with borderline-specific cognitions use applications like chats, instant messengers and blogs more often than people without borderline-specific cognitions. Additionally, Also, people with borderline-specific cognitions were 15 times more likely to answer “yes” to the question of whether or not living is generally easier in the internet. Similarly, Wölfling, Muller, and Beutel (2013) compared 20 patients with Borderline Personality Organization (BPO) and IA, and a matched control-group of BPO-patients without psychopathological but extensive Internet use and found that the BPO patients with IA showed higher borderline-specific cognitions and feelings and sensation seeking compared to BPO-patients with only an extensive Internet use (Wölfling et al., 2013). The high correlation of BPD students with IA highlight the vulnerability of the Internet as a place that lures people to the Internet, many times in an uncontrollable manner that undermines its consequences. However, the above-mentioned studies are all cross-sectional, thus the causal relationship and possible mechanisms between BPD and IA may not be illuminated. The present study incorporated a longitudinal design to verify whether college students with BPD features were more likely to be Internet addicted. Underlying mechanisms and mediation roles that illuminate such a relationship may be worthy and insightful to further understand the reasons and pathways in the process.

Bandura's social cognitive theory is often applied in addictive behaviors and used to explain the self-regulating mechanisms (Bandura, 1986). Previous studies have found positive outcome expectancy to predict alcohol use (Fu et al., 2007, Settles et al., 2010), marijuana use (Hayaki et al., 2011, Vangsness et al., 2005), smoking (Combs et al., 2010, Doran et al., 2013), and may serve as a pathway to influence a predicting variable in effecting alcohol consumption (Pedroso, Oliveira, Araujo, Castro, & Melo, 2006). Applied to explaining IA, Lin, Ko, and Wu (2008) developed the Positive Outcome Expectancy of Internet Use Questionnaire (POEIUQ), and found positive outcome expectancy to be significantly and positively associated with IA among college students in Taiwan (Lin et al., 2008). The POEIUQ composed of 4 factors, and included questions pertaining to pleasure seeking, escaping tension, emancipating desires, stimulation, etc. A further study conducted by Lin and associates on the psychosocial factors of IA used step-wise logistic regression and found that positive outcome expectancy of Internet use was a strong predictor of IA (Lin et al., 2011). Brand, Laier, and Young (2014) developed the Internet Use Expectancies Scale to measure the positive expectancies of generalized overuse of the Internet (GIA). Their results on a sample of 1019 non-clinical individuals found that Internet use expectancies served a mediating role, showing that individuals with dysfunctional coping may have expectancies of using the Internet to increase positive or reduce negative mood, and thus be more likely to develop GIA. In another study, expectancy also predicted IA among junior and senior high school students, showing a significant correlation of .26 between Internet expectancy and IA (Lee, Ko, & Chou, 2015). The correlation between Internet expectancy and IA highlight the cognitive process that may increase IA, and the craving sensations and perceived usefulness of the Internet to alleviate undesired sensations may lure individuals to increase their use and logon time in the world of cyberspace. Thus, it is likely to assume that expectancy may serve as a mediator in the relationship between personality and IA.

Borderline personality disorder is a complex psychiatric disorder that is characterized by intense negative affects (Zanarini, 2005), are often more susceptible to developing depressive symptoms (Pinto, Grapentine, Francis, & Picariello, 1996), and more likely to meet lifetime criteria for a mood disorder (Trull, Useda, Conforti, & Doan, 1997). Similar findings in IA have also portrayed a significant correlation of Internet dependency as a coping method to alleviate negative mood (Whang, Lee, & Chang, 2003) and depressive symptoms (Lin et al., 2011). Brand et al. (2014) found that individuals with higher symptoms of depression and social anxiety also showed an increased risk for having expectancies that the Internet provides a gateway for helping them reduce tension and negative mood. Additionally, problems in response inhibition were found to be specific to the BPD symptomology (Nigg, Silk, Stavro, & Miller, 2005). The disinhibition characteristics of BPD individuals highlight their impulsive and risk taking behaviors. Similarly, impulsivity was demonstrated to be highly correlated with IA (Lin et al., 2011), and also related to risk-taking and other dangerous behaviors online (Shapira et al., 2000). Thus, BPD may be more motivated to become addicted to Internet use and frequently go online due to their expectations that once online, they can achieve tension reduction and disinhibition. In other words, the Internet use expectancy of tension reduction and disinhibition may mediate the relationship between BPD features and IA severity.

Based on previous literature review, BPD was found to have a high association with IA, possibly due to their positive outcome expectations of using the Internet for tension reduction and disinhibition. Thus, the role of positive outcome expectations of Internet use was examined through the assessment of the Internet use expectancy for tension reduction and disinhibition (IUETRD) questionnaire to test the relationship of BPD features and IA severity. In the present study, we examined the following hypotheses among college students in a one year follow-up design: 1) BPD features in time 1 (T1) is significantly associated with IA severity in time 2 (T2); 2) BPD features (T1) is significantly correlated with the Internet use expectancy for tension reduction and disinhibition (IUETRD) (T2), 3) IUETRD (T2) is significantly associated with IA severity (T2); 4) IUETRD (T2) mediated the relationship between BPD features (T1) and IA severity (T2).