Internet Sex Addiction in Serbia and Montenegro

Abstract

In this study, the authors analyzed the problematic use of pornographic websites and Internet sex addiction in representative samples of respondents from different age groups including 2948 respondents from Serbia and 1486 from Montenegro. A standard questionnaire of 33 questions with answers in binary form was used. In addition to epidemiological indicators, the study also included nine family risk factors and six risk factors associated with early psychosocial developmental disorders. Finally, the social profiles of Internet sex addicts in Serbia and Montenegro were described. The results of the research showed that Internet sex addicts are mostly young adults aged 20 to 30. The overall dependency rate was estimated within average limits. In general, Internet sex addiction is among the lowest of all behavioral addictions. The authors see the reason for this in the greatest potency of this addiction for the development of addictive patterns of behavior, but also in the great predictiveness of this addiction together with the gambling addiction for the emergence and development of other behavioral addictions. All examined risk factors (except for shyness and reticence) do "separate" Internet sex addicts from those who do not have the listed risk factors at zero level of significance. However, an examination of the prediction of Internet sex addiction using binary logistic regression showed that aggressive and criminal behaviors in early youth, followed by disorders in educational and emotional relations between parents and children, have the highest predictive values for Internet sex addiction. Social profiles are unclear and unstructured, and the authors explain this by the fact that biological, not sociological, and sociocultural factors play a dominant role in developing addictive patterns of behavior.