Subjective well-being, self-esteem, and psychological needs as predictors of Internet addiction among high school students
Author(s):
Ercan Kocayörük (presenting / submitting) Levent Çetinkaya
Conference:
ECER 2015
Network:
05. Children and Youth at Risk and Urban Education
Format:
Paper

Session Information

05 SES 04 A, Children and Youth at Risk and Urban Education

Paper Session

Time:
2015-09-09
09:00-10:30
Room:
416.Oktatóterem [C]
Chair:
Sofia Marques da Silva

Contribution

Many studies revealed that there were several components of Internet addiction.  For instance, Block (2008) claimed that Internet addiction has four components: (1) excessive Internet use, often associated with a loss of the sense of time or a neglect of basic drives; (2) withdrawal, including feelings of anger, tension, and/or depression when the computer is inaccessible; (3) tolerance, including the need for better computer equipment, more software, or more hours of use; and (4) negative repercussions, including arguments, lying, poor achievement, social isolation, and fatigue.

In addition, there has been substantial research exploring the relationship between Internet use and certain variables, such as subjective well-being, self-esteem, and psychological needs. Several studies have examined problematic Internet use and Internet addiction among high school. For instance, Kim and Davis (2009) indicated that self-esteem was related to Internet addiction and Caplan (2003) found that negative feelings such as depression were predictors of problematic Internet use. Bulut-Serin (2011) examined problematic Internet use among  students and discovered that there was a positive correlation between life satisfaction and problematic Internet use. However, few studies have explored the correlation between Internet addiction and subjective well-being, self-esteem, and psychological needs.

This study examined the relationship among these variables separately and together. Moreover, in contrast to previous studies, this study examined whether these variables explain certain dimensions of Internet addiction. Therefore, the aim was to investigate the association between subjective well-being, self-esteem, and psychological needs and Internet addiction subscales in depth.

Method

Sample: A convenience sampling technique was used in this study to obtain participants. The data were gathered from the 420 high school students students (175 males and 245 females) in Turkey. The ages of the participants ranged from 14 to 18 years. Instruments: Positive and Negative Affect Schedule was developed by Watson et al. (1988) as a short measure of the affective evaluation of life. A general time frame was used in the present research. Internal consistency was .88 and .87 for PA and NA, respectively. The adaptation of the scale to Turkish was carried out by Gençöz (2000). Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale is a ten item self-report scale developed by Rosenberg (1965) for the purpose of measuring global self-esteem. The Turkish adaptation of RSS by Cuhadaroglu (1986) revealed strong reliability and validity properties. The Basic Psychological Needs Scale onsists of three ‚need‛ subscales (i.e., Autonomy, Competence, and Relatedness), and autonomy need subscale contains seven items, competence contains six items and relatedness contains eight items. The Basic Need Satisfaction in Life Scale (i.e., the general scale) was used in Gagné (2003) study and higher scores indicate higher levels of need satisfaction. In the present study, competence subscale was used to determine the level of perceived competence of adolescents. The internal consistency (α) for BPNS was found .91 in this study. Internet Addiction Inventory developed by Young (1998) and adapted to Turkish culture by Bayraktar (2001) is a six-scale likert type measure. Cronbach alpha internal consistency coefficient was .91 and Spearman-Brown reliability coefficient was calculated as .87. The regression analysis showed a statistically significant model (f(11,29)= 26.15, p<. 01). Also the results of the present study showed .93 Cronbach alpha internal consistency coefficients. A regression analysis procedure was used to examine the relationship the variables.

Expected Outcomes

The results showed a positive association between negative affect and Internet addiction while a negatif association between positive affect and internet addiction. In additon, self esteem was also important predictor of internet addiction. Psychological need such as competent, was also important predictor of internet addiction. The findings revealed that internet addiction should be considered a risk factor for adolescents in their school settings. The findings was discussed for teachers and educators for reducing this risk factors.

References

Bayraktar, F. (2001). İnternet kullanımının ergen gelişimindeki rolü, Yüksek lisans tezi, Ege Üniversitesi, İzmir. Block, J. J. (2008). Issues for DSM-V: Internet addiction. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 165, 306–307. Bulut-Serin, N. (2011). An examination of predictor variables for problematic Internet use. The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, 10(3), 54-62. Caplan, S. E. (2002). Problematic Internet use and psychological wellbeing: Development of a theory-based cognitive-behavioral measurement instrument. Computers in Human Behavior, 18, 553–575. Cuhadaroglu, F. (1986). Self-esteem in adolescents. Unpublished master thesis, Hacettepe University, Ankara. Gagné, M. (2003). The role of autonomy support and autonomy orientation in prosaically behavior engagement. Motivation and Emotion, 27, 199-223. Gençöz, T. (2000). Pozitif ve negatif duygu ölçeği: Geçerlik ve güvenirlik çalışması, Türk Psikoloji Dergisi, 15(46), 19-26. Kim, H.-K. & Davis, K. E. (2009). Toward a comprehensive theory of problematic Internet use: Evaluating the role of self-esteem, anxiety, flow, and the self-rated importance of Internet activities. Computers in Human Behavior, 25, 490–500. Rosenberg, M. (1965). Society and the adolescent self-image. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Watson, D., Clark, L. A., & Tellegen, A. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54(6), 1063–1070. Young, S. K, & Rodgers, R. C. (1998). Internet Addiction: Personality Traits Associated with ItsDevelopment, CyberPsychology and Behavior, 1(1), 25-28.

Author Information

Ercan Kocayörük (presenting / submitting)
Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Turkey
Levent Çetinkaya
Ankara University, Turkey

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