Inconsistent Bodily Feedback? Interoceptive Sensibility Affects Internet Gaming Disorder in Emerging Adults

Internet gaming disorder (IGD) has been a prominent social problem throughout the world, causing various physical health issues, and interoceptive sensibility—the ability to perceive internal bodily signals—may be a key factor in this process. However, the relationship between interoceptive sensibil...

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Main Authors: Zhouchao Lv, Cuijing Li, Jiamiao Zhang, Jinbo He
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-06-01
Series:Behavioral Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-328X/15/7/896
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author Zhouchao Lv
Cuijing Li
Jiamiao Zhang
Jinbo He
author_facet Zhouchao Lv
Cuijing Li
Jiamiao Zhang
Jinbo He
author_sort Zhouchao Lv
collection DOAJ
description Internet gaming disorder (IGD) has been a prominent social problem throughout the world, causing various physical health issues, and interoceptive sensibility—the ability to perceive internal bodily signals—may be a key factor in this process. However, the relationship between interoceptive sensibility and IGD remains unclear. This study examined how interoceptive sensibility contributes to IGD, the potential mediating roles of positive outcome expectancy and flow experience, as well as the moderating role of refusal self-efficacy. The serial mediation and moderated mediation analyses of data collected from 1733 students (1031 males and 702 females, M<sub>age</sub> = 19.56) revealed that interoceptive sensibility was positively associated with IGD, and this connection was serially mediated by positive outcome expectancy and flow experience. Moreover, refusal self-efficacy buffered the positive association between positive outcome expectancy and IGD and between flow experience and IGD. These findings suggest that interoceptive sensibility plays a crucial role in the occurrence of IGD, highlighting the importance of addressing bodily awareness in prevention and intervention strategies. Additionally, enhancing refusal self-efficacy may help mitigate the negative effects of positive outcome expectancy and flow experience, offering potential avenues for reducing IGD risk.
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spelling doaj-art-cdbe19a2e8db43c9847534031d8a28a22025-08-20T03:36:15ZengMDPI AGBehavioral Sciences2076-328X2025-06-0115789610.3390/bs15070896Inconsistent Bodily Feedback? Interoceptive Sensibility Affects Internet Gaming Disorder in Emerging AdultsZhouchao Lv0Cuijing Li1Jiamiao Zhang2Jinbo He3Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior (CCNU), Ministry of Education, Wuhan 430079, ChinaKey Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior (CCNU), Ministry of Education, Wuhan 430079, ChinaKey Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior (CCNU), Ministry of Education, Wuhan 430079, ChinaKey Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior (CCNU), Ministry of Education, Wuhan 430079, ChinaInternet gaming disorder (IGD) has been a prominent social problem throughout the world, causing various physical health issues, and interoceptive sensibility—the ability to perceive internal bodily signals—may be a key factor in this process. However, the relationship between interoceptive sensibility and IGD remains unclear. This study examined how interoceptive sensibility contributes to IGD, the potential mediating roles of positive outcome expectancy and flow experience, as well as the moderating role of refusal self-efficacy. The serial mediation and moderated mediation analyses of data collected from 1733 students (1031 males and 702 females, M<sub>age</sub> = 19.56) revealed that interoceptive sensibility was positively associated with IGD, and this connection was serially mediated by positive outcome expectancy and flow experience. Moreover, refusal self-efficacy buffered the positive association between positive outcome expectancy and IGD and between flow experience and IGD. These findings suggest that interoceptive sensibility plays a crucial role in the occurrence of IGD, highlighting the importance of addressing bodily awareness in prevention and intervention strategies. Additionally, enhancing refusal self-efficacy may help mitigate the negative effects of positive outcome expectancy and flow experience, offering potential avenues for reducing IGD risk.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-328X/15/7/896internet gaming disorderinteroceptive sensibilitypositive outcome expectancyflow experiencerefusal self-efficacy
spellingShingle Zhouchao Lv
Cuijing Li
Jiamiao Zhang
Jinbo He
Inconsistent Bodily Feedback? Interoceptive Sensibility Affects Internet Gaming Disorder in Emerging Adults
Behavioral Sciences
internet gaming disorder
interoceptive sensibility
positive outcome expectancy
flow experience
refusal self-efficacy
title Inconsistent Bodily Feedback? Interoceptive Sensibility Affects Internet Gaming Disorder in Emerging Adults
title_full Inconsistent Bodily Feedback? Interoceptive Sensibility Affects Internet Gaming Disorder in Emerging Adults
title_fullStr Inconsistent Bodily Feedback? Interoceptive Sensibility Affects Internet Gaming Disorder in Emerging Adults
title_full_unstemmed Inconsistent Bodily Feedback? Interoceptive Sensibility Affects Internet Gaming Disorder in Emerging Adults
title_short Inconsistent Bodily Feedback? Interoceptive Sensibility Affects Internet Gaming Disorder in Emerging Adults
title_sort inconsistent bodily feedback interoceptive sensibility affects internet gaming disorder in emerging adults
topic internet gaming disorder
interoceptive sensibility
positive outcome expectancy
flow experience
refusal self-efficacy
url https://www.mdpi.com/2076-328X/15/7/896
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AT cuijingli inconsistentbodilyfeedbackinteroceptivesensibilityaffectsinternetgamingdisorderinemergingadults
AT jiamiaozhang inconsistentbodilyfeedbackinteroceptivesensibilityaffectsinternetgamingdisorderinemergingadults
AT jinbohe inconsistentbodilyfeedbackinteroceptivesensibilityaffectsinternetgamingdisorderinemergingadults