Loneliness and Internet Addiction Among University Students with The Moderating Role of Defense Mechanisms
Subject Areas : social psychology
Fatemeh Alidoost
1
(
Department of Psychology, Faculty of humanities, Khayyam University, Mashhad, Iran.
)
hosein eskandari
2
(
M.A. in General Psychology, Khayyam University, Mashhad, Iran
)
Keywords: Internet addiction, loneliness, defense mechanisms, university students.,
Abstract :
Abstract This study aimed to determine the moderating role of defense mechanisms in the relationship between loneliness and internet addiction among university students.The study method was correlation and the statistical population included all students studying at Khayyam University (approximately 7000 people). A number of 200 students were selected by convenience sampling method and completed the Young Internet Addiction Questionnaire (1996), Loneliness (Russell et al, 1978), and Defense Style Questionnaire (Andrews et al, 1993). The results of the Pearson correlation coefficient showed a positive and significant relationship between loneliness and internet addiction (r = 0/26, p<0/01), a negative and significant relationship between mature defense style and internet addiction (r = - 0/16, p<0/05) and there is a positive and significant relationship between immature defense style and internet addiction (r = 0/26, p<0/01). Also, a positive and significant relationship exists between immature defense style and loneliness (r = 0/25, p<0/01). Finally, the results of the hierarchical regression analysis of the proposed model showed that defense mechanisms significantly mediate the relationship between loneliness and internet addiction. This research showed that the relationship between loneliness and internet addiction is not linear and simple, and other variables such as defense mechanisms play a role in this relationship.
