Assessing the Relationships between Internet Addiction, Depression, COVID-19-Related Fear, Anxiety, and Suspicion among Graduate Students in Educational Administration: A Structural Equation Modeling Analysis

Abstract

This study aims to examine the relationships between Internet addiction, depression, COVID-19-related fear, anxiety, and suspicion in graduate students. A total of 482 students pursu-ing a master’s degree in educational administration participated in the study, which was designed according to the relational survey model. The data of the study were collected using online question-naires, and the proposed hypotheses were tested and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results of the study revealed that COVID-19-related suspicion positively and significantly predicted COVID-19-related fear and anxiety. In this context, the increased suspicion of graduate students due to COVID-19 also increased their fear and COVID-19-related anxiety, and this increased the possibility that they would exhibit depressive behaviors. However, a positive and significant relationship was found between COVID-19-related suspicion and depression. This result confirms that the increased suspicion of the participant students due to COVID-19 led to an increase in their depression scores. SEM results have shown a positive relationship between fear and anxiety related to COVID-19 and Internet addiction, and that the increase in students’ anxiety and fear levels also increases their Internet addiction levels. In addition, the results of the study revealed that depression has a negligible indirect effect on the relationship between COVID-19-related fear, anxiety, and suspicion and Internet addiction. In conclusion, the proposed hypothetical model is confirmed after having examined the relationships among depression, Internet addiction, COVID-19-related fear and anxiety, and suspicion.