Internet addiction and some of its demographic correlates in Tehran students

Subject Areas : فصلنامه تحقیقات روانشناختی

Ramin Alavinejad ¹ , Shirin Kooshki ² , Anita Baqdasariyans ³ , Fatemeh Golshani ⁴

1 - PhD student in Psychology, Islamic Azad University, Central Tehran branch.
2 - Associate Professor of Psychology, Islamic Azad University, Central Tehran Branch.
3 - Assistant Professor of Psychology, Islamic Azad University, Central Tehran Branch.
4 - Assistant Professor of Psychology, Islamic Azad University, Central Tehran Branch.

Received: 2023-04-29 Accepted : 2023-04-29 Published : 2021-01-20

Keywords: internet addiction, field of study, marital status, virtual networks, Parenting methods,

Abstract :

This research was conducted with the aim of investigating some demographic correlates of Internet addiction. The research population was all undergraduate students of Tehran universities who were studying in the academic year 1997-1998. The sample of this research included 800 students aged 18 to 24 who were selected by multi-stage cluster method. Data collection was done using demographic information questionnaire and Internet addiction questionnaire by Yang (1998). Among the studied demographic variables of the field of study, marital status, employment status, parenting methods and the topic of Internet consumption showed a significant difference between normal and problematic Internet users (p ˂ 005). Users who reported their parents as authoritarian or neglectful were significantly more in the group of problematic Internet users (p ˂ 0.1). In general, it seems that the relationship between students' demographic information and Internet addiction can have important implications. Some of these demographic characteristics can be considered in future research in terms of predicting and finding the cause of abnormal behaviors such as Internet addiction.