The effect of Internet addiction on mind wandering: Resilience and academic burnout as mediators among Chinese adolescents

Abstract

Attention, particularly mind wandering, has garnered research interest because of the development of technologies that empower a person to focus on several tasks simultaneously. This study investigated the mediating roles of resilience and academic burnout in the relationship between the Internet addiction and mind wandering of Chinese adolescents. Participants were 2,335 adolescents who anonymously completed questionnaires on Internet addiction, resiliency, academic burnout, and mind wandering. We used descriptive statistics and structural equation modeling for data analysis. The results showed that Internet addiction was positively and directly associated with mind wandering, and that there was also an indirect effect via resilience, academic burnout, and a sequential mediating effect of resilience and academic burnout. These results highlight the importance of resiliency as a construct in explaining mind wandering and have implications as regards the necessary steps to prevent mind wandering in adolescents.