Abstract: The Internet is a wild and wonderful place which has forever changed the way we live, learn, and work, but when a person can’t find a balance between their time online and their time offline, it can mean problems for their mental health. Internet Overuse is excessive internet use that interferes with daily life. Addiction, defined by Webster Dictionary as a “compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance characterized by tolerance and by well-defined physiological symptoms upon withdrawal”, was traditionally used to depict a person’s dependence on the substance. Researchers estimate that 6-13% of people are overused to the internet. According to the Cognitive-behavioral model of internet addiction, predispositions of Internet overuse are related to fear of negative evaluation. Prior studies have focused mainly on the direct association between fear of negative evaluation and Internet overuse, however, little is known about the underlying mediating mechanism (i.e. fear of negative evaluation influences Internet overuse). To address these gaps, the present study would examine the mediating effect of self-control and social anxiety in the relation between fear of negative evaluation and Internet overuse. A total of 864 college students (mean age = 19.53 years, SD = 1.37) participated in this study. We recruited participants from three university of Hunan Province. All participants gave written consent. The social anxiety was measured by Social Interaction Anxiety Scale(SIAS). Self-control was assessed with Self-Control Scale for Chinese College Students (SCS). Internet?Addiction?Test (IAT) was used to assess Internet overuse. All the measures have good reliability and validity. The proposed serial mediation model was tested using regression analysis and the PROCESS macro, the effects of gender and age were controlled in all analyses. The main findings of this study were as follows: (1) After controlling for gender and age, fear of negative evaluation was positively correlated with social anxiety and Internet overuse, while negatively correlated with self-control; social anxiety was positively correlated with Internet overuse, while negatively correlated with self-control; and Internet overuse was negatively correlated with self-control; (2) Mediation analysis revealed that fear of negative evaluation could affect Internet overuse through the mediation of social anxiety and self-control. The mediation effect contained three paths, the separate mediation effect of social anxiety and self-control, and the serial mediation effect of social anxiety and self-control. These findings supported our hypothesis. In summary, these findings contribute to our understanding the mechanism fear of negative evaluation impacts Internet overuse. On the one hand, fear of negative evaluation will affect the Internet overuse through the mediation of social anxiety and self-control. On the other hand, internet addiction has a complex internal mechanism and is the result of the interaction of multiple factors. The present study may contribute to our understanding of the relationship between fear of negative evaluation and Internet overuse. Last but not the least, to intervention and prevention of Internet overuse need to focus on multiple factors.

Key words: fear of negative evaluation, internet overuse, social anxiety, self-control

摘要： 本研究以864名大学生为被试，探讨负面评价恐惧与网络过度使用的关系以及社交焦虑和自我控制在这一关系中的中介作用。结果发现：（1）负面评价恐惧与社交焦虑和网络过度使用之间均呈显著正相关，与自我控制存在显著负相关；（2）负面评价恐惧通过社交焦虑和自我控制的中介作用对网络过度使用产生影响，这一中介作用包含了三条路径：社交焦虑和自我控制的单独中介作用以及社交焦虑-自我控制的序列中介作用。这一结论有助于促进对大学生网络过度使用的干预与预防。

关键词: 负面评价恐惧, 网络过度使用, 社交焦虑, 自我控制