Internet Addiction, Psychological Distress, and Coping Responses Among Adolescents and Adults

Abstract

As Internet use grows, so do the benefits and also the risks. Thus, it is important to identify when individuals' Internet use is problematic. In the present study, 449 participants aged from 16 to 71 years of age were sourced from a wide range of English-speaking Internet forums, including social media and self-help groups. Of these, 68.9% were classified as nonproblematic users, 24.4% as problematic users, and 6.7% as addictive Internet users. High use of discussion forums, high rumination levels, and low levels of self-care were the main contributing factors to Internet addiction (IA) among adolescents. For adults IA was mainly predicted through engagement in online video gaming and sexual activity, low email use, as well as high anxiety and high avoidant coping. Problematic Internet users scored higher on emotion and avoidance coping responses in adults and higher on rumination and lower on self-care in adolescents. Avoidance coping responses mediated the relationship between psychological distress and IA. These findings may assist clinicians with designing interventions to target different factors associated with IA.

A biopsychosocial approach to understanding social media addiction

“…Although scholars have investigated the relationship between depression and social media addiction (Koc & Gulyagci, ; Shensa et al, ), and previous studies have shown a positive relationship between perceived stress and overall Smartphone addiction (Samaha & Hawi, ), to our knowledge, no previous research has demonstrated stress as a predictor of social media addiction, specifically. What is known, however, is that when individuals turn to Internet use as a coping mechanism to deal with negative emotion, they tend to do so at the expense of healthier coping mechanisms, and this strategy may ultimately increase the risk of developing Internet addiction (McNicol & Thorsteinsson, ; Muller, Glaesmer, Brahler, Woelfling, & Beutel, ). Thus, it is not surprising that stress and depression predicted social media addiction in the current study.…”

A Discriminant Analysis to Predict the Impact of Personality Traits, Self-esteem, and Time Spent Online on Different Levels of Internet Addiction Risk among University Students

“…It has been described as an individual's uncontrollable and compulsive use of the Internet, which negatively affects academic and job performances, reduces sleep and hygiene quality, and leads to reduced interpersonal social relationships (Lyvers, Karantonis, Edwards, & Thorberg, 2016;Sahraian, Hedayati, Mani, & Hedayati, 2016;Young, 2015;Zhang et al, 2015). Furthermore, the conceptual model of Internet addiction incorporates tolerance, withdrawal, relapse, salience, conflict and mood modification as the core criteria for symptoms of addictive behavior (McNicol & Thorsteinsson, 2017). On the basis of the current literature, the conceptualization of Internet addiction has been identified as an umbrella term, which includes a wide range of problematic online behavior (e.g., online gaming, online gambling, online sex, and social networking) and is characterized by extreme preoccupation with connecting to the Internet, with poor behavior control of online activities resulting in a negative impact on personal well-being and quality of life (Monacis, Sinatra, Griffiths, & de Palo, 2018).…”

Latent profiles of stress and their relationships with depression and problematic Internet use among college freshmen

“…It is defined as a specific alteration in mood (e.g., sadness, loneliness, and apathy) and a negative self‐concept that leads to self‐reproach (Beck & Alford, ). Recent literature has indicated that stress is related to depression across different age groups (adolescents: Moksnes, Bradley Eilertsen & Lazarewicz, ; adults: Jensen, ; adolescents to elderly: McNicol & Thorsteinsson, ), yet, there is a lack of relevant studies focusing on college students. For example, Dyson and Renk () examined the relationships between depressive symptomatology and levels of stress in 74 college freshmen.…”