Background: In recent years, teenage students' internet gaming disorder has raised widespread concern in the society. The current study aims to explore how perceptions of school climate, maladaptive cognition, and belief in a just world impact teenage students' internet gaming disorder and seek the suitable intervention to prevent teenage students' internet gaming disorder tendency.
Methods: A total of 1,164 teenage students (age: 19.62 ± 3.14 years) were evaluated using the Perceived School Climate Scale (PSCS), Maladaptive Cognition Scale (MCS), Belief in a Just World Scale (BJWS), and Internet Gaming Disorder Scale (IGDS).
Results: (1) Perceptions of school climate could predict teenage students' internet gaming disorder [β = -0.15, < 0.001, 95% CI = (-0.20, -0.11)]. (2) Teenage students' maladaptive cognition exerts a partial mediating effect between their perceptions of school climate and internet gaming disorder [ab = -0.13, boot = 0.01, 95% CI = (-0.16, -0.11)]. (3) The direct effect of perceptions of school climate on internet gaming disorder [β = -0.07, < 0.01, = (-0.11, -0.02)], the first half of the mediation model "perceptions of school climate → maladaptive cognition" [β = -0.08, < 0.01, 95% = (-0.12, -0.03)], and the second half of the mediation model "maladaptive cognition → internet gaming disorder" [β = 0.10, < 0.001, 95% CI = (0.06, 0.14)] are all moderated reciprocally by teenage students' belief in a just world.
Conclusion: Schools should create a good climate and shape belief in a just world to reduce the maladaptive cognition of teenagers, to effectively prevent teenage students' internet gaming disorder tendency.
