Table 3.

Results for the moderator analysis of the relation between problematic internet use and depressive symptoms

Moderator variables	No. studies	No. ES	Mean r	95% CI	t value (sig)	F (df1, df2)	Level 2 variance	Level 3 variance
School grade	131	159				F (2, 156) = 5.054**	0.003	0.015
Secondary	72	89	0.281	(0.257, 0.321)	17.849***
Undergraduate	50	59	0.353	(0.330, 0.408)	18.705***
Others	10	11	0.331	(0.262, 0.426)	8.314***
Region	131	159				F (4, 154) = 2.668*	0.003	0.015
East Asia	66	74	0.282	(0.257, 0.323)	17.476***
West Asia	30	37	0.335	(0.296, 0.399)	13.355***
South Asia	10	10	0.327	(0.248, 0.433)	7.257***
Europe	20	27	0.377	(0.335, 0.457)	12.839***
Others	5	11	0.322	(0.212, 0.456)	5.422***
Measure of PIU	131	159				F (3, 155) = 2.382	0.003	0.016
IAT	64	74	0.330	(0.308, 0.378)	19.380***
CIAS	14	15	0.230	(0.162, 0.307)	6.414***
YDQ	12	13	0.315	(0.247, 0.406)	8.109***
Others	41	57	0.314	(0.283, 0.367)	15.235***
Measure of depressive symptoms	131	159				F (7, 151) = 1.075	0.003	0.016
BDI	27	35	0.316	(0.272, 0.382)	11.739***
CDI	5	6	0.246	(0.135, 0.367)	4.271***
CES-D	28	28	0.342	(0.303, 0.409)	13.270***
DASS-21	16	18	0.335	(0.277, 0.420)	9.622***
SCL-90	6	6	0.333	(0.226, 0.467)	5.677***
SDS	5	6	0.264	(0.150, 0.391)	4.442***
PHQ	9	9	0.359	(0.281, 0.471)	7.841***
Others	35	51	0.283	(0.246, 0.337)	12.719***
Publication year	131	159	0.007	(0.001, 0.012)	2.341*	F (1, 157) = 5.482*	0.003	0.016
Female	123	150	− 0.017	(− 0.167, 0.133)	− 0.230	F (1, 148) = 0.053	0.003	0.017

IAT Internet Addiction Test; CIAS Chen Internet Addiction Scale; YDQ Young’s Diagnostic Questionnaire; BDI Beck Depression Inventory; CDI Children’s Depression Inventory; CES-D Centre for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale; DASS-21 Depression Anxiety Stress Scale; SCL-90 Symptom Checklist-90; SDS Self-Rating Depression scale; PHQ Patient Health Questionnaire

*p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001