The mediating effect of student school burnout on the relationship between coping strategies and Internet addiction

Each person receives and experiences stress differently and applies more or less effective ways of coping. However, the lack of such skills can lead to burnout. As Różańska-Kowal (2004) writes, the most important predictor of burnout is stress. Everyone is different, has different resources, so there are differences in how to deal with difficult and stressful situations. Some young people with poor coping strategies try to deal with the overwhelming stress by engaging in problematic behaviors, and this heightens the risk of developing substance or Internet addictions.

The aim of this study was to examine the association between coping strategies (CS), student school burnout (SSB) and problematic use of the Internet (PUI), and to check if SSB may be a mediator between CS and PUI.

Further analyses revealed that a lower level of the problem - focused coping strategies (active coping and acceptance) and a higher level of helplessness and avoidance behaviors are directly associated with addictive Internet behaviors. However, school burnout mediates only links between active coping, helplessness and avoidance behaviors and problematic Internet use. In addition, gender appeared as a moderator between SSB and PUI. Finally, the results suggested that gender plays a significant role in the relationship between the tested variables.

Male adolescents with poor coping strategies were more prone to school burnout and, because of being burned out, were at a higher risk of excessive Internet use. In the female group school, burnout insignificantly predicted problematic Internet use.