Binge-watching has become one of the most popular ways for people to spend their free time. Binge-watching refers to watching more than two episodes of a television show in a single sitting. This pattern of behavior can be seen in people of a wide range of ages, but it is particularly widespread among people of millennial age and younger. In this study, we propose a model that explains binge-watching engagement by theorizing and testing the association of social influence on perceived usefulness, regret on the continuous intention of binge-watching, and habit on continuous intention and binge-watching engagement. The authors evaluated the model using data collected from 225 respondents. The results supported the proposed hypotheses and confirmed that regret does not neutralize the positive - and strong - effect of perceived usefulness and habit on binge-watching.

UNASSIGNED: This study aimed to investigate binge-watching behavior and addiction among a sample of 446 Chinese college students and assess its consequences for mental health, with a particular focus on feelings of loneliness, anxiety, and depression.
UNASSIGNED: We conducted an online survey to gather data, examining participants\' binge-watching habits and preferred platforms. We also utilized regression analysis to assess the impact of binge-watching addiction on mental health, exploring the associations between binge-watching addiction and feelings of loneliness, anxiety, and depression.
UNASSIGNED: Our findings revealed that the Chinese college students in our study typically defined binge-watching sessions as lasting approximately 7.22 hours, with an average of 10.83 episodes. Regarding the self-assessment of binge-watching, the average duration of participants was 5.76 hours, and the average number of episodes was 7.42. Tencent Video, iQIYI, and Bilibili emerged as the dominant platforms for binge-watching among the respondents. Regression analysis demonstrated a significant link between binge-watching addiction and mental health, with positive associations observed between binge-watching addiction and increased feelings of loneliness, anxiety, and depression.
UNASSIGNED: The results of this study reinforce previous findings regarding the detrimental effects of excessive media consumption on mental well-being. Moreover, they provide valuable insights into the global prevalence of binge-watching and its impact on the psychological health of young adults in the digital age, emphasizing the need for proactive measures to address this issue.

BACKGROUND: Individuals who have certain personality traits may be particularly at risk for developing technological addictions. Binge-watching, which includes watching several episodes of a television series consecutively, is seen as a behavior that is out of control and even addictive. Binge-watching also can isolate the individual socially, or it can be a buffer against the individual\'s feeling of loneliness. This study was conducted to examine the mediating role of binge-watching in the relationship between type D personality and loneliness.
METHODS: 570 adults older than 18 years of age who were reached by the convenience sampling method participated in the study. The data were collected with the Type D Personality Scale, UCLA Loneliness Scale, and the Binge-Watching Engagement and Symptoms Questionnaire.
RESULTS: As a result of the study, binge-watching mediated the relationship between type D personality and loneliness, and fit values of this model were within the acceptable range. It can be said that individuals with type D personality tend to decrease their loneliness by watching more series.
CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide a nuanced explanation about how type D personality is associated with loneliness. The results also shed light on effective prevention and intervention strategies to reduce binge-watching. Therapeutic interventions are important especially for individuals with personality traits that cause a feeling of loneliness.

While applying a diagnostic approach (i.e., comparing \"clinical\" cases with \"healthy\" controls) is part of our methodological habits as researchers and clinicians, this approach has been particularly criticized in the behavioral addictions research field, in which a lot of studies are conducted on \"emerging\" conditions. Here we exemplify the pitfalls of using a cut-off-based approach in the context of binge-watching (i.e., watching multiple episodes of series back-to-back) by demonstrating that no reliable cut-off scores could be determined with a widely used assessment instrument measuring binge-watching.

The practice of binge-watching (i.e., watching multiple episodes of TV series in one session) has become increasingly prevalent, but comprehending its nature and potential underlying factors has been challenging. In particular, problematic binge-watching remains ill-defined and conceptualized, being regarded either as an addictive behaviour or a maladaptive emotion regulation strategy. Following a process-based approach, in the current study we explored the latter conceptualization, by investigating the potential mediating role of an unconstructive ruminative thinking style between negative affect and problematic binge-watching. To this end, TV series viewers completed an online survey assessing socio-demographic variables, TV series viewing habits, binge-watching motives and engagement, ruminative thinking styles and affect. Based on their answers, participants were allocated to one of the following three groups: non-binge-watchers (n = 59), trouble-free binge-watchers (n = 85), or problematic binge-watchers (n = 162). Group comparisons and mediation analyses were conducted to explore the underlying role of unconstructive rumination in problematic binge-watching. Results showed that, apart from the pattern of TV series watching, trouble-free binge-watchers shared little to no similarity with problematic binge-watchers, therefore supporting the need to differentiate these two behaviours. Moreover, mediation analyses revealed that an unconstructive ruminative thinking style partially mediated the relationship between negative affect and coping/escapism and that it fully accounted for the relationship between negative affect and binge-watching derived positive emotions in problematic binge-watchers. These findings thus add to the notion that problematic binge-watching might serve as a way to bolster a maladaptive emotion regulation strategy, implying that unconstructive rumination acts as a mediating process in this context.

Nowadays, binge-watching (i.e., watching multiple episodes of a TV series in one session) has become a widespread practice of media consumption, raising concerns about its negative outcomes. Nevertheless, previous research has overlooked the underlying psychological mechanisms leading to binge-watching. In the present work, we investigated some of the psychological variables that could favor binge-watching tendencies in a sample of TV series viewers (N = 196). To this aim, psychological determinants of problematic digital technologies usage (i.e., feelings of loneliness), as well as some of the mechanisms related to the enjoyment of media contents (i.e., escapism and the identification with media characters), were considered as predictors of the tendency to binge-watch. Results indicated that higher feelings of loneliness were associated with higher levels of problematic digital technologies usage. Additionally, direct and indirect effects showed that only escapism - out of the four dimensions measuring the problematic use of Internet-related technologies - predicted participants\' stronger identification with media characters, which in turn promoted greater binge-watching tendencies. Overall, we suggest that binge-watching could be interpreted as a coping strategy for media escapists, who enjoy TV series as a privileged online space in which the need to escape finds its fulfillment, allowing them to manage loneliness by identifying with a fictitious character.

Recently, the question about the potentially problematic characteristics of binge-watching behaviours has been raised in the contemporary literature. Binge-watching is a highly popular behaviour that involves watching multiple episodes of TV series in one sitting. Studies show that binge-watching can be both an entertaining, but also a potentially problematic, behaviour. Therefore, this research aimed to answer the question about how impulsivity, difficulties in emotional regulation, and one\'s motivations around why they want to watch a TV series predict problematic binge-watching among a group of Polish young adults. The research group consisted of 645 participants. The following tools were then used to measure the study variables: the Impulsive Behaviour Scale, the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, the Viewing Motivation Scale, and the Questionnaire of Excessive Binge-watching. Furthermore, a regression analysis was performed on the responses to each measure in order to answer our research questions. Our results show that a lack of premeditation, impulse control difficulties, and having an escapist motivation are all significant predictors of problematic binge-watching behaviours. Furthermore, one\'s motivations around dealing with loneliness, their motivations around how to best spend their free time, as well as their informative and entertaining motivations were also found to be significant predictors of problematic binge-watching behaviours.

UNASSIGNED: Watching multiple episodes using streaming services, such as Netflix, Hulu, and Youku, has become widespread in recent years. While much attention has been paid to binge-watching, there is, however, a dearth of research on binge-watching and its adverse psychological effects during the COVID-19 pandemic. To the best of our knowledge, less attention has been paid to understanding the multiple influences of binge-watching on binge-watchers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of the past studies on this topic mainly underscored the individual\'s motivations for binge-watching. Also, past studies were limited and inconclusive as they mostly espoused only the underpinning adverse effects of binge-watching without looking into the association between binge-watching and screen time for web series through online streaming services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, this study sought to fill this gap by probing the association between binge-watching and psychological aftereffects.
UNASSIGNED: The study employed a cross-sectional research design vis-à-vis the survey method. A sample of 1089 adult respondents was collected through an online administrated questionnaire.
UNASSIGNED: The findings of this study demonstrated that extensive binge-watching is an antecedent of stress, loneliness, insomnia, depression and anxiety. Furthermore, it was found that screen time on binge-watching could intensify these adverse effects of binge-watching. Interestingly, the moderating effect of screen time on binge-watching was found to be insignificant for stress and loneliness.
UNASSIGNED: The findings of this study suggest that binge-watching correlates with psychological and mental health symptoms including stress, loneliness, insomnia, depression and anxiety. Hence, this study suggests that consumption of web series through online streaming services related literacy interventions are imperative to help the audience become critical about online streaming content and its comparison to the real social world.

In recent years, binge-watching becomes a highly popular way of spending free time. Even though binge-watching usually is related to entertainment, there are concerns about some negative and unhealthy outcomes of excessive form of this behavior. The study examined the predictive value of anxiety-depressive syndrome in explaining the symptoms of problematic binge-watching and the tendency to adopt a specific motivation to watch series. Research group consists of 645 Polish young adults. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Depression Measurement Questionnaire, Viewing Motivation Scale, and Questionnaire of Excessive Binge-Watching were used in this study. The results of the path analysis show that anxiety-depressive syndrome and motivation to watch TV series are the significant factors in the manifestation of all symptoms of problematic binge-watching. Moreover, there is a significant relation between anxiety-depressive syndrome and motivation to watch TV series, which especially concerns escape motivation and motivation to deal with loneliness. Furthermore, motivation to deal with loneliness, escape motivation, and motivation to spend free time have mediating effect on the relationship between anxiety-depressive syndrome and problematic binge-watching. Results of this research show that there could be not only normative binge-watching behavior but also unhealthy and problematic form of this behavior.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.599859.].