Relationship between view of context, psychosocial malaise and problematic internet use: mediation analysis using partial least squares structural equation modelling.

Background: According to more recent approaches on problematic internet use (PIU), using the internet can be seen as a way of compensating for psychosocial malaise. Taking semiotic cultural psychology theory as its theoretical framework, this study examines the role of affect-laden assumptions concerning the world, known as latent dimensions of sense (LDSs), in promoting (or not) adaptive responses, including internet use as a maladaptive strategy against problems and difficulties.

Aims: To test a theoretical model in which PIU is predicted by LDSs through the mediation of high levels of psychosocial malaise.