ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Addictive Behaviors
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1654908
This article is part of the Research TopicSocial Interaction in Cyberspace: Online Gaming, Social Media, and Mental HealthView all 11 articles
From Lonely to Addicted: Exploring Sex Differences in the Effect of Online Social Support Among University Students in Hong Kong
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Counselling and Psychology, Hong Kong Shue Yan University, Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR China
- 2School of Education, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
- 3Department of Psychology, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR China
- 4Department of Health Sciences, Hong Kong Metropolitan University, Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR China
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Internet addiction, a growing issue in young adults post-pandemic, especially among Asian males, is linked to various negative outcomes. Loneliness significantly influences internet addiction, but the underlying psychosocial mechanism remains unclear. This study examined the mediating role of online social support between loneliness and internet addiction with a focus on sex differences. A cross-sectional online survey of 213 university students (105 males and 108 females), recruited through convenience sampling, examined loneliness, internet addiction, and perceived online social support. No significant moderation effect of sex on the direct or indirect path between loneliness and internet addition. Perceived online social support partially mediated the positive association between loneliness and internet addiction only in males (standardized β = .07, bootstrapped SE = 0.04, bootstrapped 95% CI [0.01, 0.17]), but not in females (standardized β = .03, bootstrapped SE = 0.03, bootstrapped 95% CI [–0.02, 0.11]). On the other hand, perceived online social support was significantly and positively correlated with internet addiction in both sexes (standardized β = .27, bootstrapped SE = 0.10, 95% CI [0.07, 0.47]). Our findings reveal a potential concern of online social support, which could be one of the underlying psychosocial factors contributing to a deeper reliance on the internet and further social withdrawal from the real world in males. This deserves more in-depth investigations regarding the influence of different types of online social support received or perceived through different online platforms and environments. The findings of this study have implications for how online social support is structured for individuals struggling with internet addiction, especially male individuals, and underscore the need for gender-sensitive design in future online support programs.
Keywords: Loneliness, Internet addiction, Perceived online social support, sex differences, Mediation analysis, psychosocial
Received: 27 Jun 2025; Accepted: 06 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Leung, Poon, Wong, Cheung and Lau. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Mei-Kei Leung, mkleung@hksyu.edu
Way Kwok-Wai Lau, wkwlau@hkmu.edu.hk
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