Internet dependence in high school student

Abstract

With increased accessibility on Internet, Internet addiction is becoming a serious problem, especially among adolescents. They usually do these activities for entertainment, excitement, challenge seeking, or emotional coping. However, both excessive play of games and frequent use of SNSs may lead to certain negative outcomes. Factors that may influence the tendency for adolescents to become dependent are various. Most existing studies on Internet addiction focus primarily on internal and individual factors that may predispose individuals to problematic Internet use, as personality traits. The main aim of this study was to assessing the risk of Internet addiction in a sample of Italian young adults of High School by looking background factors, attitudes, behavioral habits and personality traits. The results indicate that different dimensions of internet addiction can be predicted by a combination of different users’ characteristics. In particular, Agreeableness-Conscientiousness and Extroversion were inversely related to Internet addiction. The results were discussed in terms of prevention, the identification of specific variables associated with Internet addiction allows for targeting individuals who appear to be at risk for developing Internet addiction.