Background: Alexithymia and Internet addiction are emerging concerns among university students, and perceived social support may help explain how difficulties in identifying and expressing emotions relate to problematic Internet use. This study examined the mediating role of perceived social support in the relationship between alexithymia and Internet addiction among Jordanian university students. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional online survey was conducted among 300 university students in Jordan during the 2022/2023 academic year using Google Forms distributed through Facebook and Microsoft Teams. Participants completed the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), Internet Addiction Test (IAT), Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), and demographic questions. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlations, multiple regression, and Hayes PROCESS macro Model 4 with 5000 bootstrap samples. Results: The overall mean scores for alexithymia, Internet addiction, and social support were 62.57, 46.05, and 55.13, respectively. Alexithymia was positively correlated with Internet addiction and negatively correlated with social support. Social support partially mediated the relationship between alexithymia and Internet addiction, indicating that higher alexithymia was associated with lower perceived social support, which in turn was associated with higher Internet addiction. Conclusions: The findings support the need for university-based screening and prevention programs that address emotional awareness, healthy Internet use, and social support. Theoretically, the results suggest that social support is a meaningful psychosocial pathway linking alexithymia with problematic Internet use among university students.
Hamaideh et al. (Tue,) studied this question.