Addictive internet behaviors: The role of trait emotional intelligence, self‐esteem, age, and gender

Abstract

Internet is essential part of everyday life and certainly facilitate it on several levels. It is a helpful information tool, and knowledge, but its unlimited range often is risky for users. The behaviors and outcomes of internet abuse have already been well‐documented in the literature; less is known about the role of personal factors that reinforce internet addiction. Based on the Interaction of Person‐Affect‐Cognition‐Execution model (I‐PACE), the current study investigates the role of trait emotional intelligence and self‐esteem, age, and gender in relation to addictive internet behaviors. We conducted an online investigation among respondents. The participants were Italian university students who voluntarily completed the Abuse Internet Addiction scale (UADI) and the Rosenberg Self‐esteem scale. Path analysis results revealed that both trait emotional intelligence and self‐esteem had a protective direct effect on addictive internet behaviors. Age negatively affects addictive internet behaviors; younger are more likely to develop addictive internet behaviors than older individuals. Finally, we did not find an effect of gender on addictive internet behaviors. Our results suggest the need to develop prevention plans for addictive internet behaviors and educational programs to increase emotional intelligence and self‐esteem components to help younger to improve interpersonal and emotional management skills to better handle their internet use.

Convergent Validity Analysis between the Profile of Emotional Competences Full-Form and the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire Full-Form

“…Specifically, further investigation of EI/EC with a clear distinction between intrapersonal and interpersonal EI/EC appears important for addiction research. For example, to determine their implication and impact on different kinds of addictions, such as smoking, alcohol use, illicit drug use (Kun & Demetrovics, 2010), or addiction focusing on technology (Gugliandolo et al, 2019), such as addictions related to internet behaviours (Arrivillaga et al, 2020;Hsieh et al, 2018;Sechi et al, 2020;Wang & Zhang, 2020), and smartphone use (Arrivillaga et al, 2020;Busch & McCarthy, 2021;Mascia et al, 2020). Finally, clarifying the role of intra-and interpersonal EC would also help to design more specific interventions (Hodzic et al, 2017;Schütz et al, 2020), and promote healthy emotional growth of individuals, protecting against addictions as suggested by many researchers in this domain (Arrivillaga et al, 2020;Busch & McCarthy, 2021;Gugliandolo et al, 2019;Kun & Demetrovics, 2010;Mascia et al, 2020).…”

“…Specifically regarding addiction, higher EI was found to be a protective factor against smoking (Kun & Demetrovics, 2010;Torres et al, 2020), alcohol use, and illicit drug use (Kun & Demetrovics, 2010). Furthermore, technological addictions are of recent interest (Gugliandolo et al, 2019), and EI has been found to be a protective factor against problematic internet behaviour (Arrivillaga et al, 2020;Hsieh et al, 2018;Sechi et al, 2020;Wang & Zhang, 2020), and smartphone use (Arrivillaga et al, 2020;Busch & McCarthy, 2021;Mascia et al, 2020). Finally, EI and EC may not only act as protective factors against addiction behaviours, but may also represent an important adjuvant for counsellors providing support for people with addiction, given addiction counsellors with higher EI have been found to display higher cultural empathy (Smith et al, 2020).…”

Problematic Internet Usage and Self-Esteem in Chinese Undergraduate Students: The Mediation Effects of Individual Affect and Relationship Satisfaction

“…Research suggests that self-esteem serves as a preventative factor of PIU [ 68 ]. A high level of self-esteem has been found to alleviate the adverse effects of PIU [ 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 ]. A recent study found that social adjustment and self-esteem had indirect effects, through procrastination, on Internet addiction among college students [ 74 ].…”

Executive Functions and Problematic Internet Use among University Students: The Mediator Role of Self-Esteem

“…Along the same lines, those with low self-esteem are more likely to reject social relationships with others and to show some preference for online social interaction. Evidence for this is derived from recent research by Sechi, Loi and Cabras, who argue that the Internet is an escape for people with low self-esteem, as well as a more comfortable alternative to face-to-face interaction [10].…”

“…University students are the most at-risk group in terms of problematic Internet use [10] with six out of every one hundred university students experiencing problems with Internet use [28]. Brotóns et al found that university students constituted a population at risk of problematic Internet use, due to the presence of a series of characteristics, the most notable being the justification of the amount of Internet use by conceiving it as one of the main tools in academic activities; the presence of very flexible study and work schedules among university students; and the existence of low control and supervision of students' Internet activities by parents or legal guardians [17].…”