A Structural Equation Model of Impulsivity, Psychological Resilience, and Internet Gaming Disorder: Testing Direct and Indirect Pathways Among Saudi University Students

Background: Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) is a growing mental health concern among university students, often linked to impulsivity and low resilience. However, traditional regression-based research often fails to evaluate latent measurement structures or simultaneously test indirect pathways within a single analytic framework. This study applied structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine the direct and indirect associations between impulsivity, resilience, and IGD symptom severity among Saudi university students, evaluating resilience as a potential mediator and testing measurement equivalence across sex. Methods: Data from 207 students (58.9% male) were analyzed using the lavaan package in R. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) evaluated the measurement model for the IGDS9-SF, CD-RISC-10, and S-UPPS-P. Structural paths were tested with indirect effects estimated via bootstrapping (5000 resamples), alongside multi-group invariance testing to examine equivalence across sex. Results: The measurement model demonstrated acceptable fit (CFI = 0.93, TLI = 0.91, RMSEA = 0.058 [90% CI: 0.044, 0.069], SRMR = 0.063). Significant direct associations were observed: impulsivity with IGD severity (β = 0.38, p < 0.001) and resilience with IGD severity (β = −0.26, p < 0.001). The bootstrapped indirect association of impulsivity with IGD through resilience was statistically significant (β = 0.083, 95% CI [0.031, 0.149]), consistent with partial mediation in this cross-sectional sample. Factor loadings were equivalent across sex (metric invariance supported); the impulsivity–IGD association was stronger in males (β = 0.46) than females (β = 0.27; χ2(1) = 4.65, p = 0.031), though this comparison should be treated as preliminary. Conclusions: Impulsivity was associated with IGD both directly and indirectly through lower resilience. These SEM-based findings are consistent with resilience as a partial mediator of the impulsivity–IGD association, suggesting potential value in multi-target mental health interventions in university nursing and counseling settings. Longitudinal research is needed to establish causal ordering.