Impact of distress and anxiety due to COVID-19 on digital addictions in university students in the third wave period [version 1; peer review: 2 approved]

Abstract* Background Digital addictions are a major problem worldwide, which has increased considerably during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this scenario, two important impact factors to explain this problem are stress and anxiety because of COVID-19. The objective of this research was to determine the impact of distress and anxiety due to COVID-19 on digital addictions. Methods cross-sectional, explanatory study. A total of 802 students from public and private universities residing in the city of Lima and Callao (Peru), with a mean age of 21.68 (SD = 3.11), selected by convenience sampling, participated in the study. The MULTICAGE CAD-4 questionnaire, the distress scale, and the COVID-19 worry scale were applied. Results two models examined with structural equation modeling showed good fit indices (CFI and TLI > .95, RMSEA and SRMR < .06). The first model shows that the latent variables distress and anxiety due to COVID-19 have direct effects on digital addictions as a general construct (R2 = 22%). The second model shows that the exogenous latent variables (stress and anxiety) have direct effects of different magnitudes on each digital technology, so the variance explained on smartphone addiction was higher (R2 = 25%) with respect to internet (R2 = 19%) and video game addiction (R2 = 6%). It was also found that for every male, there are two females with high levels of distress and anxiety. Regarding the problematic use of smartphones and internet, there is a prevalence of 40% regardless of sex; but as for the problematic use of video games, there is a marked difference between males (18.8%) and females (2.7%). Conclusion the distress and anxiety caused by COVID-19 have a direct impact in aggravating digital addictions.