Relationship of Internet Addiction Severity with Depression, Anxiety, and Alexithymia, Temperament and Character in University Students

Abstract

The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship of Internet addiction (IA) severity with alexithymia, temperament, and character dimensions of personality in university students while controlling for the effect of depression and anxiety. A total of 319 university students from two conservative universities in Ankara volunteered for the study. Students were investigated using the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20, the Temperament and Character Inventory, the Internet Addiction Scale, the Beck Anxiety Inventory, and the Beck Depression Inventory. Of the university students enrolled in the study, 12.2 percent (n=39) were categorized into the moderate/high IA group (IA 7.2 percent, high risk 5.0 percent), 25.7 percent (n=82) were categorized into the mild IA group, and 62.1 percent (n=198) were categorized into the group without IA. Results revealed that the rate of moderate/high IA group membership was higher in men (20.0 percent) than women (9.4 percent). Alexithymia, depression, anxiety, and novelty seeking (NS) scores were higher; whereas self-directedness (SD) and cooperativeness (C) scores were lower in the moderate/high IA group. The severity of IA was positively correlated with alexithymia, whereas it was negatively correlated with SD. The "difficulty in identifying feelings" and "difficulty in describing feelings" factors of alexithymia, the low C and high NS dimensions of personality were associated with the severity of IA. The direction of this relationship between alexithymia and IA, and the factors that may mediate this relationship are unclear. Nevertheless, university students exhibiting high alexithymia and NS scores, along with low character scores (SD and C) should be closely monitored for IA.

Relationships among smartphone addiction, stress, academic performance, and satisfaction with life

“…For instance, higher ADHD and depression were associated with Internet addiction [Yen 2011]. Depression, anxiety and stress were positively related to Internet addiction in Akin's study (Akin & Iskender, 2011), and higher scores for depression, alexhytimia and anxiety were observed in a group of university students diagnosed with moderate/high Internet addiction (Dalbudak et al, 2013). The aforementioned studies tackled Internet addiction using desktops or laptops.…”

Differences in Problematic Internet Use based on Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Levels

“…Eventually, psychological problems may stagnate or worsen (Durak Batıgün & Kılıç, 2011;Yeh, Ko, Wu, & Cheng, 2008). Research results have shown that depressed individuals in particular tend to use the Internet excessively (Dalbudak et al, 2013;Mayda et al, 2015).…”

Prevalence of smart phone addiction, sleep quality and associated behaviour problems in adolescents

“…16 Present findings on depression and anxiety are highly consistent with those of previous studies. 17 Sleep is a significant biological mechanism related to mood regulation, students whose sleep is disrupted because of technology use may be more likely to experience markers of depression. In present study, smartphone use predicted the level of depression and anxiety.…”