Shyness, Loneliness Avoidance, and Internet Addiction: What are the Relationships?

Abstract

Given that shyness has been consistently linked to Internet addiction in youth, an examination into the mediating effect of a desire to avoid loneliness on the shyness-Internet addiction link could offer potential insights into a possible explanatory mechanism as well as directions for Internet addiction prevention and intervention in young adulthood. Thus, the aim of this study is to investigate the mediating role of loneliness avoidance in the relationship between shyness and Internet addiction among 286 youth Internet users. Shyness was significantly and positively correlated with loneliness avoidance and Internet addiction. In addition, loneliness avoidance was significantly and positively correlated with Internet addiction. Most importantly, loneliness avoidance may predispose shy youth to become addicted to the Internet. Theoretical and practical implications of the research findings for youth wellness are addressed in this study.

Exploring The Relationship Between Personality, Loneliness, Self-Esteem And Internet Addiction

“…Loneliness was associated and predicted Internet addiction, confirming previous results. Studies showed that Loneliness was positively associated with Internet addiction (Ang, Chan, & Lee, 2018;Bardi https://doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2019.08.03.21 Corresponding Author: Ana-Maria Cazan Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of the conference eISSN: 184 & Brady, 2010). High loneliness is associated with compulsive use of Internet, withdrawal, tolerance, timemanagement problems, and interpersonal and health problems (Li & Chung, 2006).…”

“…Internet addiction was associated with the Big Five personality traits (Cao & Su, 2006;Kayis et al, 2016;Mehroof & Griffiths, 2010;Öztürk et al, 2015), several studies showing that traits such as Consciousness and Openness could be protective factors, while Neuroticism could have a negative impact on the risk of addiction. Loneliness was also positively associated with Internet addiction (Ang, Chan, & Lee, 2018;Bardi & Brady, 2010) and lower self-esteem has been found to correlate significantly with Internet addiction (Yang & Tung, 2007).…”

The relationship between alexithymia and shyness in nursing students with mediating roles of loneliness and social identity

“…Because people who have this feature imagine others see their situation as embarrassing, this exacerbates their loneliness; additionally, shy people have tended to have lower self-esteem. 54 Therefore, shyness is thought to be a strong predictor with a positive and significant relationship with loneliness, since social identity refers to the relationship between the individual and others within the community. 3 It can also be difficult to establish interpersonal relationships, which can cause shyness.…”

Relationship Between Shyness and Generalized Pathological Internet Use Among Chinese School Students: The Serial Mediating Roles of Loneliness, Depression, and Self-Esteem

“…Previous studies showed that people with shyness often feel uncomfortable when they interacted with strangers ( Cheek and Buss, 1981 ). And they tend to spend more time on the Internet ( Saunders and Chester, 2008 ; Eldeleklioglu and Vural-Batik, 2013 ; Li et al, 2016 ; Ang et al, 2017 ; Tian et al, 2017 ). There are several reasons why shy individuals easily develop GPIU.…”