Problematic Internet Use and Anxiety in Adolescents: A Scoping Review of Mechanisms and Contextual Influences
Abstract
Problematic internet use (PIU) and anxiety are prevalent, co-occurring difficulties during adolescence, yet their shared psychological mechanisms remain insufficiently mapped. This scoping review investigated evidence on the PIU-anxiety relationship in adolescents aged 13-18 years, following Arksey and O’Malley’s framework and PRISMA-ScR guidelines. PubMed, EBSCOhost, and Web of Science were searched from January 2014 to December 2025, supplemented by hand-searching of reference lists. Ninety-six studies from 20 countries were included. Across all modalities, PIU was associated with elevated anxiety. Longitudinal studies indicated suggestive but not definitive bidirectional associations with symptoms of anxiety. Avoidance-based coping and cognitive-emotional dysregulation emerged as primary mechanism clusters, with emotion dysregulation as a central transdiagnostic process. Co-occurring internalising phenomena including depressive symptoms and loneliness were included where they provided relevant context for interpreting the association between PIU and anxiety in adolescents. Family functioning, social support, and environmental stressors moderated associations. These findings indicate that PIU and anxiety should be assessed concurrently. Interventions may benefit from targeting shared transdiagnostic mechanisms, particularly emotion dysregulation, while taking family and environmental contexts into account.
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BibTeX
@misc{albertus2026problematic,
title = {{Problematic Internet Use and Anxiety in Adolescents: A Scoping Review of Mechanisms and Contextual Influences}},
author = {Cleo Albertus and Freda Scheffler and Goodman Sibeko and Dan J. Stein and Christine Lochner and Nynke A. Groenewold},
howpublished = {PsyArXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.31234/osf.io/9k56c_v1},
url = {https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/9k56c_v1/},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Problematic Internet Use and Anxiety in Adolescents: A Scoping Review of Mechanisms and Contextual Influences
AU - Cleo Albertus
AU - Freda Scheffler
AU - Goodman Sibeko
AU - Dan J. Stein
AU - Christine Lochner
AU - Nynke A. Groenewold
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/03
PB - PsyArXiv
DO - 10.31234/osf.io/9k56c_v1
UR - https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/9k56c_v1/
AB - Problematic internet use (PIU) and anxiety are prevalent, co-occurring difficulties during adolescence, yet their shared psychological mechanisms remain insufficiently mapped. This scoping review investigated evidence on the PIU-anxiety relationship in adolescents aged 13-18 years, following Arksey and O’Malley’s framework and PRISMA-ScR guidelines. PubMed, EBSCOhost, and Web of Science were searched from January 2014 to December 2025, supplemented by hand-searching of reference lists. Ninety-six studies from 20 countries were included. Across all modalities, PIU was associated with elevated anxiety. Longitudinal studies indicated suggestive but not definitive bidirectional associations with symptoms of anxiety. Avoidance-based coping and cognitive-emotional dysregulation emerged as primary mechanism clusters, with emotion dysregulation as a central transdiagnostic process. Co-occurring internalising phenomena including depressive symptoms and loneliness were included where they provided relevant context for interpreting the association between PIU and anxiety in adolescents. Family functioning, social support, and environmental stressors moderated associations. These findings indicate that PIU and anxiety should be assessed concurrently. Interventions may benefit from targeting shared transdiagnostic mechanisms, particularly emotion dysregulation, while taking family and environmental contexts into account.
ER -