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Background Internet addiction (IA) is prevalent among university students and is often linked to negative affect and maladaptive cognition. Time-specific physical activity such as night running may relate to IA, but the psychological mechanisms remain underexplored. Objective This study examined the association between night running and IA and tested whether stress/anxiety and rumination mediate this relationship in a serial pathway. Methods A cross-sectional online survey was conducted among 1,138 undergraduates from two universities in Guangdong Province, China. Night running frequency (after 7:00 p.m.) was assessed using an adapted IPAQ-SF item. Stress/anxiety was measured with the DASS-21, rumination with the Ruminative Responses Scale, and IA with the Internet Addiction Test. Correlations were computed and a serial mediation model was tested using bootstrapping. Results Night running was negatively correlated with stress/anxiety ( r = −0.48), rumination ( r = −0.45), and IA ( r = −0.52), while stress/anxiety and rumination were positively associated with IA ( r = 0.42 and r = 0.50, respectively). Mediation analyses indicated a significant total effect of night running on IA ( β = −0.52) and a remaining direct effect ( β = −0.34). Significant indirect effects were observed via stress/anxiety ( β = −0.05), via rumination ( β = −0.07), and via the serial pathway ( β = −0.06), with all bootstrap 95% CIs excluding zero. Conclusion Night running is associated with lower IA among university students, partly through reduced stress/anxiety and reduced rumination, supporting a partial serial mediation model.
Liang et al. (Tue,) studied this question.