The Effect of Primary and Middle School Teachers’ Problematic Internet Use and Fear of COVID-19 on Psychological Need Thwarting of Online Teaching and Psychological Distress

• Published in: Healthcare (Basel) Vol. 9; no. 9; p. 1199
• Main Authors: Yi, Jian, Chen, I-Hua, Lin, Chung-Ying, Li, Cheng-Chieh, Liao, Xiao-Ling, Wei, Zhi-Hui, Gamble, Jeffrey Hugh
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 11.09.2021; MDPI
• Subjects: Anxiety; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Internet access; Secondary schools; Structural equation modeling; Students; Teaching; China
• ISSN: 2227-9032; 2227-9032
• DOI: 10.3390/healthcare9091199

Problematic Internet use (PIU) is a risk factor for psychological distress during COVID-19, as teachers are a psychologically vulnerable population. We explored the role of PIU in terms of primary and middle school teachers’ fear of COVID-19 and psychological need thwarting (PNT) of online teaching. We empirically evaluated the relationships among these research variables in explaining teachers’ psychological distress during COVID-19. Online survey data were collected from 9030 teachers. A high proportion of participants demonstrated psychological distress: depression (20.4%), anxiety (26.4%), and stress (10.2%). Structural equation modeling was used to test our proposed conceptual model, wherein PIU behaviors served as predictors, mediated by fear of COVID-19 and PNT of online teaching, for teachers’ psychological distress. With ideal model fit, the results of the path coefficients indicated that PIU behaviors were associated with fear of COVID-19 (p < 0.001); fear of COVID-19 and PNT of online teaching were associated with psychological distress (p < 0.001); and fear of COVID-19 was also positively associated with PNT of online teaching (p < 0.001). PSU and PSMU had an indirect positive effect on psychological distress through the mediator of fear of COVID-19 and PNT of online teaching. As such, we suggest that school administrators pay greater attention to teachers’ psychological needs through efforts to enhance teachers’ autonomy and relatedness from interpersonal relationships, alleviating PNT of online teaching. Our PNT of online teaching scale may also serve as a contribution for further research and practice.