Relations Among Loneliness, Social Anxiety, and Problematic Internet Use

2007 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 234-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott E. Caplan
Keyword(s):  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Internet Use ◽  
Problematic Internet Use

scholarly journals Association of problematic internet use with depression, impulsivity, anger, aggression, and social anxiety: Results of a national study among Lebanese adolescents

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 255-264
Author(s):  
Chadia Haddad ◽  
Diana Malaeb ◽  
Hala Sacre ◽  
Jad Bou Khalil ◽  
Wael Khansa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Internet Use ◽  
Problematic Internet Use ◽  
National Study

scholarly journals Gender Differences in and the Relationships Between Social Anxiety and Problematic Internet Use: Canonical Analysis (Preprint)

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mustafa Baloğlu ◽  
Hatice İrem Özteke Kozan ◽  
Şahin Kesici
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Canonical Correlation ◽  
Internet Use ◽  
Behavioral Model ◽  
Cognitive Behavioral ◽  
Problematic Internet Use ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Cognitive Behavioral Model

BACKGROUND The cognitive-behavioral model of problematic Internet use (PIU) proposes that psychological well-being is associated with specific thoughts and behaviors on the Internet. Hence, there is growing concern that PIU is associated with psychological impairments. OBJECTIVE Given the proposal of gender schema theory and social role theory, men and women are predisposed to experience social anxiety and engage in Internet use differently. Thus, an investigation of gender differences in these areas is warranted. According to the cognitive-behavioral model of PIU, social anxiety is associated with specific cognitions and behaviors on the Internet. Thus, an investigation of the association between social anxiety and PIU is essential. In addition, research that takes into account the multidimensional nature of social anxiety and PIU is lacking. Therefore, this study aimed to explore multivariate gender differences in and the relationships between social anxiety and PIU. METHODS Participants included 505 college students, of whom 241 (47.7%) were women and 264 (52.3%) were men. Participants’ ages ranged from 18 to 22 years, with a mean age of 20.34 (SD=1.16). The Social Anxiety Scale and Problematic Internet Use Scale were used in data collection. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and canonical correlation analysis were used. RESULTS Mean differences between men and women were not statistically significant in social anxiety (λ=.02, F3,501=2.47, P=.06). In all three PIU dimensions, men scored higher than women, and MANOVA shows that multivariate difference was statistically significant (λ=.94, F3,501=10.69, P<.001). Of the canonical correlation functions computed for men, only the first was significant (Rc=.43, λ=.78, χ29=64.7, P<.001) and accounted for 19% of the overlapping variance. Similarly, only the first canonical function was significant for women (Rc=.36, λ=.87, χ29=33.9, P<.001), which accounted for 13% of the overlapping variance. CONCLUSIONS On the basis of the findings, we conclude that enhanced educational opportunities for women and their increasing role in the society have led women to become more active and thus closed the gap in social anxiety levels between men and women. We found that men showed more difficulties than women in terms of running away from personal problems (ie, social benefit), used the Internet more excessively, and experienced more interpersonal problems with significant others due to Internet use. We conclude that men are under a greater risk of social impairments due to PIU. Our overall conclusion is that there is a substantial amount of association between social anxiety and PIU and the association is stronger for men than it is for women. We advise that future research continue to investigate PIU and social anxiety as multidimensional constructs.

scholarly journals Facing Life Problems Through the Internet. The Link Between Psychosocial Malaise and Problematic Internet Use in an Adolescent Sample.

2020 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Venuleo ◽  
Lucrezia Ferrante ◽  
Simone Rollo
Keyword(s):  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Internet Use ◽  
Negative Emotions ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Problematic Internet Use ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Vie Quotidienne ◽  
Internet Users ◽  
Life Problems

Scholars have highlighted the role of negative affect as key correlates of Problematic Internet Use (PIU). According to the assumption that Internet-related behaviours can be seen as mechanisms to cope with everyday life (Kardefelt-Winther, 2017), the present study aims to explore the relation between PIU and psychosocial malaise, expecting that adolescents with high levels of social anxiety, negative emotions, and loneliness are more likely to be associated to the problem group of Internet users. Measures of PIU (GPIUS–2), social anxiety (IAS), negative affectivity (PANAS), and loneliness (ILS) were detected in a sample of 766 students attending Year 9–11 (13–19 years old; 47% females) of public high schools in the territory of Lecce (Apulia–Italy). A sub-group of problematic Internet users was identified (n = 185) and a control group was selected (n = 187). A logistic regression was applied to estimate the effect of psychosocial variables on the differentiation between problematic and control Internet users. Results of the present cross-sectional study show that a higher level of social anxiety, negative emotions, and loneliness increases the probability of belonging to the group of problematic Internet users. No significant differences between males and females were found in GPIU levels. The findings show that, for a better understanding of PIU onset and maintenance among adolescents, it is important, to take into account the life problems which may lead young people to overindulge in Internet use.RésuméLes scientifiques ont mis en lumière le rôle de l’affect négatif comme corrélat significatif de la dépendance. Partant de l’hypothèse que les comportements dans Internet peuvent être vus comme des mécanismes d’adaptation à la vie quotidienne (Kardefelt-Winther, 2017), notre étude visait à explorer la relation entre la cyberdépendance et le malaise psychosocial. On s’attendait à ce que les adolescents affichant un degré élevé d’anxiété sociale, d’émotions négatives et de solitude fassent partie du groupe d’internautes à problème. Des indicateurs de la cyberdépendance (GPIUS-2), de l’anxiété sociale (IAS), de l’affect négatif (PANAS) et de la solitude (ILS) ont été relevés dans un échantillon de 766 élèves de la 9e à la 11e année (13 à 19 ans; 47 % de filles) choisi dans des écoles secondaires publiques du territoire de Lecce (Apulia, Italie). Un sous-groupe d’internautes cyberdépendants a été défini (n=185) et un groupe contrôle sélectionné (n=187). Un modèle de régression logistique a été appliqué en vue d’estimer l’effet des variables psychosociales sur la différenciation entre joueurs cyberdépendants et joueurs du groupe contrôle. Les résultats de l’étude transversale montrent qu’un degré plus élevé d’anxiété sociale, d’émotions négatives et de solitude augmentait la probabilité d’appartenir au groupe d’internautes cyberdépendants. Aucune différence notable n’a été constatée entre les hommes et les femmes quant au degré de cyberdépendance. Les résultats indiquent qu’une compréhension plus fine du développement de la cyberdépendance et de sa persistance chez les adolescents devra tenir compte des problèmes vécus dans leur vie personnelle qui les inciteraient à un usage excessif d’Internet.

scholarly journals Social Anxiety and Loneliness in Adults Who Solicit Minors Online

Sexual Abuse ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (6) ◽  
pp. 519-540 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anja Schulz ◽  
Emilia Bergen ◽  
Petya Schuhmann ◽  
Jürgen Hoyer
Keyword(s):  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Internet Use ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Problematic Internet Use ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Sexual Interaction ◽  
Convenience Sample ◽  
Internet Users ◽  
Assessment And Treatment ◽  
Treatment Procedures

This study examined the association of social anxiety, loneliness, and problematic Internet use (PIU) with the online solicitation of minors. Within a convenience sample of adult Internet users from Germany, Finland, and Sweden ( N = 2,828), we compared the responses of participants who had not interacted sexually with strangers online ( n = 2,049) with participants who sexually interacted with unknown adults online ( n = 642), and both groups with adults who sexually solicited unknown minors online ( n = 137). Online sexual interaction with adults was associated with higher levels of social anxiety, loneliness, and PIU compared with not sexually interacting with strangers online. Sexually soliciting minors online was associated with higher levels of social anxiety, loneliness, and PIU compared with sexually interacting with adults and not sexually interacting with strangers at all. Interestingly, compared with those with adult contacts, loneliness was specifically pronounced for participants who solicited children, whereas social anxiety and PIU were pronounced for participants soliciting adolescents. These findings suggest that social anxiety, loneliness, and PIU may be among the motivators for using the Internet to solicit individuals of different age groups for sexual purposes. These factors emerged as specifically relevant for adults who sexually solicited minors and who reported greater impairments compared with adults who sexually interacted with adults. These characteristics may thus be important to consider for assessment and treatment procedures for individuals soliciting minors online.

scholarly journals Mediating role of emotion regulation difficulties in the relationship between social anxiety and problematic internet use

Psihologija ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 291-305
Author(s):  
Kürşad Sertbaş ◽  
Selman Çutuk ◽  
Fikret Soyer ◽  
Çutuk Akkuş ◽  
Rukiye Aydoğan
Keyword(s):  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Emotional Regulation ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Internet Use ◽  
Problematic Internet Use ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
The Relationship

This study aimed to examine whether there is a mediating role of emotion regulation difficulties in the relationship between social anxiety and problematic Internet use (PIU). The sample consisted of 297 participants (147 [49%] males; aged from 18 to 24 years), who were university students studying sport sciences in four universities in Turkey. Data were obtained using the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale, Internet Addiction Scale, and Scale of Difficulties in Emotional Regulation. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the data. According to the results obtained, emotion regulation difficulty has a full mediating role in the relationship between social anxiety and PIU. As a result, social anxiety affects emotion regulation difficulties and this effect could increase PIU.

scholarly journals PROBLEMATIC INTERNET USE AMONG ADOLESCENTS AND THE VIEW OF CONTEXT: A PLS-STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODEL

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucrezia Ferrante ◽  
◽  
Claudia Venuleo ◽  
Simone Rollo
Keyword(s):  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Internet Use ◽  
Multiple Correspondence Analysis ◽  
Negative Emotions ◽  
Cultural Influences ◽  
Equation Model ◽  
Problematic Internet Use ◽  
Mediation Model ◽  
Adaptive Responses

"The idea of Internet use as a way to face psychosocial malaise is growing in the scientific literature about Problematic Internet Use (PIU). The present study, assuming the Semiotic Cultural Psycho-social Theory (SCPT) (Salvatore, 2018) as theoretical framework, postulates and emphasizes that the context in which the subject is embedded provide the symbolic resources, which ground the way adolescents perceive, experience, and therefore deal with the material and social world, including the likelihood of using the Internet as a way to facing life problems and difficulties. SCTP adopts the term “Symbolic Universes” (SU) to denote affect-laden assumptions concerning the world which may (or not) promote adaptive responses. Specifically, the present study aimed to test a mediation model in which each Symbolic Universes (i.e. independent variable) is associated with the psychosocial malaise in terms of social anxiety, loneliness, and negative emotions (i.e. mediator variable), which in turn has effects on PIU (i.e. dependent variable). Measures of PIU (GPIUS), symbolic universes (VOC), negative affect (PANAS), social anxiety (IAS), loneliness (ILs) among a total of 764 Southern Italy youths aged from 13 to 19 (mean age =15.05 ± 1.152). A Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) was firstly run to detect SU; a Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) was then performed on R for testing the hypothesized mediation model. The results demonstrated that Symbolic Universes characterized by anomie and unreliability of the social context are associated with adolescents’ PIU though the mediation of social anxiety, loneliness, and negative emotions. Overall, findings suggest that within an anomic and unreliable scenario, PIU might acquire the meaning of a way to face life in an environment that seems meaningless, uncertain, and detrimental. On the plane of intervention, this points to the need for programs that address social and cultural influences in youths’ Internet use."

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