Purpose: This study examined the relationships between anger, depression, anxiety, and information behavior among university students and investigated the mediating role of anxiety in the relationships of anger and depression with information behavior.
Method: A cross-sectional correlational design was employed. The participants were 368 undergraduate students at Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, selected through proportionate stratified sampling. Data were collected using an information behavior questionnaire, the anxiety and depression subscales of the Lovibond and Lovibond scale, and the Buss and Perry anger scale. The hypothesized model was tested using path analysis. Indirect relationships were examined using bootstrapping with 5,000 resamples and 95% confidence intervals.
Findings: The proposed model showed a good fit to the data. Anger, depression, and anxiety were significantly and negatively associated with information behavior, whereas anger and depression were significantly and positively associated with anxiety. The indirect relationships of both anger and depression with information behavior through anxiety were also significant. Because the direct relationships remained significant, the pattern of findings was consistent with partial mediation by anxiety.
Conclusion: The findings extend the affective perspective on information behavior by examining anger, depression, and anxiety simultaneously rather than treating negative emotional states in isolation. They further suggest that the interrelationships among negative emotional states may be relevant to understanding information behavior. By identifying anxiety as a statistical mediator in the relationships of anger and depression with information behavior, the study provides a more integrated account of the affective correlates of students’ information behavior. Given the cross-sectional design, however, the findings should be interpreted as statistical associations rather than evidence of causal or temporal mechanisms.