Time perspective in Internet and Facebook addiction

Time perspective is a predictor of addictive behaviors. As the number of Internet and Facebook users is increasing, it is worth investigating the role of time perspective in maladaptive types of usage. In this study, we examined the potential relationship of time perspective with Internet addiction and Facebook intrusion. The participants were 756 Internet users with Facebook accounts. We used the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory, the Facebook Intrusion Questionnaire, the Facebook Intensity Scale, and the Internet Addiction Test. We analyzed similar associations between time perspective and the two types of addiction. Age and daily time spent online were predictors of Internet addiction, Facebook intensity, and Facebook intrusion. Past Negative and Present Fatalistic orientations were positive predictors for both types of addiction, whereas Future time perspective was a negative predictor. Present Hedonistic orientation was a negative predictor only of Internet addiction. The findings of this study may contribute to the development of health promotion interventions and workshops aimed at preventing maladaptive online behaviors.     

Personality and social characteristics of Facebook non-users and frequent users

Facebook is currently the largest social networking website with an estimated one billion of monthly active users in 2012. While most of the prior research has explored characteristics of Facebook users, less is known about the characteristics of individuals who do not use Facebook. The current study examined personality and social factors that might influence the decision to use Facebook and explored differences between Facebook non-users and frequent users. Online questionnaires examining levels of trust and self-disclosure, number of intimate friendships, peer usage of Facebook and scores on overt and covert narcissism were used for the purpose of the study. The results showed that non-users and frequent users differed on several social and personality characteristics. Facebook non-users had lower tendency to self-disclose, fewer peers participating in the social network and higher covert narcissistic traits. Frequent Facebook users scored higher on overt narcissism and reported more intimate friendships than non-users, indicating that close friendships might actually extend to social networks and contribute to a feeling of closeness and intimacy between friends in both an online and offline context.     

Personality and motivations associated with Facebook use

Facebook is quickly becoming one of the most popular tools for social communication. However, Facebook is somewhat different from other Social Networking Sites as it demonstrates an offline-to-online trend; that is, the majority of Facebook Friends are met offline and then added later. The present research investigated how the Five-Factor Model of personality relates to Facebook use. Despite some expected trends regarding Extraversion and Openness to Experience, results indicated that personality factors were not as influential as previous literature would suggest. The results also indicated that a motivation to communicate was influential in terms of Facebook use. It is suggested that different motivations may be influential in the decision to use tools such as Facebook, especially when individual functions of Facebook are being considered.     

Internet addiction in adolescents: Prevalence and risk factors

As new media are becoming daily fare, Internet addiction appears as a potential problem in adolescents. From the reported negative consequences, it appears that Internet addiction can have a variety of detrimental outcomes for young people that may require professional intervention. Researchers have now identified a number of activities and personality traits associated with Internet addiction. This study aimed to synthesise previous findings by (i) assessing the prevalence of potential Internet addiction in a large sample of adolescents, and (ii) investigating the interactions between personality traits and the usage of particular Internet applications as risk factors for Internet addiction. A total of 3105 adolescents in the Netherlands filled out a self-report questionnaire including the Compulsive Internet Use Scale and the Quick Big Five Scale. Results indicate that 3.7% of the sample were classified as potentially being addicted to the Internet. The use of online gaming and social applications (online social networking sites and Twitter) increased the risk for Internet addiction, whereas extraversion and conscientiousness appeared as protective factors in high frequency online gamers. The findings support the inclusion of ‘Internet addiction’ in the DSM-V. Vulnerability and resilience appear as significant aspects that require consideration in further studies.     

Internet addiction in students: Prevalence and risk factors

The last decade has witnessed a large increase in research on the newly emerging mental health problem of Internet addiction. Rather than looking at Internet addiction per se, this study focused on particular activities on the Internet that might be potentially addictive and linked them to personality traits that might predispose individuals to Internet addiction. The aims of this study were (i) to assess the prevalence of clinically significant levels of Internet addiction, and to (ii) discern the interplay between personality traits and specific Internet uses in increasing the risk for Internet addiction. This cross-sectional online survey used data from 2257 students of an English university. Results indicated that 3.2% of the students were classified as being addicted to the Internet. The included personality traits and uses of online activities explained 21.5% of the variance in Internet addiction. A combination of online shopping and neuroticism decreased the risk for Internet addiction, whereas a combination of online gaming and openness to experience increased it. In addition to this, frequent usage of online shopping and social online activities, high neuroticism and low agreeableness significantly increased the chances of being addicted to the Internet. Findings and their implications are discussed.     

The role of personality traits in Facebook and Internet addictions: A study on Polish,Turkish, and Ukrainian samples

Although the relationships between Facebook addiction, Internet addiction and personality have already been investigated. The aim of the present study was to explore whether there were personality traits associated with Facebook addiction and Internet addiction across three different cultures. The participants were 1011 Facebook users from Poland, Turkey, and Ukraine. We administered the Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale, the Internet Addiction Test, and the Ten Item Personality Inventory. We found that in the total sample Facebook addiction was positively associated with Internet addiction, while Internet addiction was negatively associated with emotional stability, conscientiousness, and extraversion. The lack of invariance across the countries indicates that the tested links are not the same in each of them, which may suggest the role of cultural factors in this phenomenon. The results are discussed in the light of Facebook addiction and personality literature. The application of culturally sensitive intervention programs in dealing with Facebook addiction is encouraged.     

Association between Facebook addiction,self-esteem and life satisfaction: A cross-sectional study

In recent years, many research efforts have been focused on investigation of potential connection between social networking and mental health issues. Particularly important and controversial remains the association between Facebook use, self-esteem and life satisfaction. In our cross-sectional study, on a sample of 381 Facebook users, we tested the existence and strength of this relationship using Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale (BFAS), Facebook Intensity Scale (FBI), Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale (SES), and Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS). With k-means cluster analysis, we divided the sample into 3 groups: ordinary, intensive, and addicted Facebook users. The results of our study show that ordinary Facebook users differ statistically in self-esteem and life satisfaction from both addicted and intensive users. Facebook addiction was in relation with lower self-esteem. Facebook addiction was also negatively related to life satisfaction. These results are in accordance with the previously published findings of other authors in the fields of social networking psychology and psychiatry.     

Internet addiction among adolescents in Lebanon

Internet addiction has been a subject of research since 1996. In step with this trend, this study aims to illuminate Internet addiction in Lebanon based on research evidence. The timing of this study coincides with the growing rate of penetration of Internet service across the country and with current plans to improve this service. This study investigates Internet usage among adolescents, who are the most vulnerable to Internet addiction in the population. Permission to access schools to conduct this research was obtained from the Ministry of Education and Higher Education. A web-based questionnaire was completed by 833 intermediate and secondary students from public and private schools. The questionnaire included items on demographic information and Internet usage and an Arabic version of Young’s Internet Addiction Test (YIAT). The results showed that 4.2% of the sample had significant problems. Furthermore, the more problematic Internet use (PIU) was, the less the Internet was used for information and research, and the more it was used for entertainment. PIU is driven by deficiency needs fuelled by the use of interactive applications. The more deficient the need, the greater the obsession with top-notch interactive applications, and the less frequent the usage of non-interactive applications.     

The Internet addiction components model and personality: Establishing construct validity via a nomological network

There is growing concern over excessive and sometimes problematic Internet use. Drawing upon the framework of the components model of addiction (Griffiths, 2005), Internet addiction appears as behavioural addiction characterised by the following symptoms: salience, withdrawal, tolerance, mood modification, relapse and conflict. A number of factors have been associated with an increased risk for Internet addiction, including personality traits. The overall aim of this study was to establish the association between personality traits and the Internet addiction components model in order to develop a theoretical framework via a nomological network. Internet addiction and personality traits were assessed in two independent samples of 3105 adolescents in the Netherlands and 2257 university students in England. The results indicate that low agreeableness and high neuroticism/low emotional stability are associated with the Internet addiction components factor in both samples. However, low conscientiousness and low resourcefulness predicted it in the adolescent sample only. The implications include the usage of the Internet addiction components model as parsimonious tool for the initial screening of potential clients in mental health institutes, and identifying populations at risk through their personality traits which may prove advantageous for the initiation of targeted prevention efforts.     

Prevalence and determinants of Internet addiction among adolescents

BackgroundGlobally, it is agreed that the internet can serve as a tool that enhances well-being but there is no consensus regarding what constitutes problematic internet use and internet use relationship with offline behavioural addictions. This study was conducted to investigate the prevalence of Internet addiction (IA) among adolescents and to determine whether it is a distinct disorder from offline behavioural addictions.MethodsUsing survey design, a total of 1022 University adolescents comprising undergraduates and postgraduates were selected using stratified random sampling. Data were collected using the Revised Internet Addiction Test (RIAT), a questionnaire made up of EPQR-S Lie Scale, Internet Addiction Test (IAT), Internet Use Reasons, Hypersexual Behaviour Inventory and Problem Video Game Playing Scale.ResultsThere was prevalence of IA among the adolescents; the prevalence rate was 3.3%, in a male to female ratio of approximately 3:1. Adolescents’ online addiction was mainly influenced by extrinsic reasons for internet use, although there were few whose reasons for going online were mainly intrinsic. Using the internet to communicate on important matters, getting sex-oriented materials, and making money (especially amongst females) seemed to dominate addicts’ minds; thus, majority were ‘addicts on the internet’ and not ‘addicts to the internet’.ConclusionsOffline behavioural addictions was not an IA causal factor but rather a motivating factor, while intrinsic reasons for internet use was not found to be a reliable factor for distinguishing addicts from non-addicts.     

Frequency is not enough: Patterns of use associated with risk of Internet addiction in Portuguese adolescents

This paper reports an exploratory analysis of the relation between Internet addiction and patterns of use among Portuguese adolescents (n = 2617) from the WHO 2010 Health Behavior in School-aged children study, with a short version of Young's Internet Addiction Test (the brief Internet Addiction Questionnaire – bIAQ) and self-reports on online behaviors and access. Two-Step Cluster analysis identified two clusters of users based on their usage pattern: a minority of high-frequency users, with higher bIAQ scores, and a majority of low-frequency users, with lower bIAQ scores. Low and high-frequency users are particularly distinct in specific activities, which converges with previous research showing addiction to specific Internet activities rather than to the Internet as a whole.     

Personality and Internet usage: A large-scale representative study of young adults

Studies that have examined the relationship between personality and Internet use so far were largely conducted on the basis of small, non-representative samples, and have yielded conflicting results. In the current study we estimate the relationship of the Big 5 personality traits and Internet use in a large nationally representative U.S. sample of over 6900 young adults with average age of 26. Our results suggest that global Internet use is positively related to Extraversion, Neuroticism, and Conscientiousness. We also examine the relationship of the Big 5 with online communication, leisure, academic, and economic activities. Extraversion is correlated with the most different Internet activities. Our findings contrast with many of the relationships found in previous research which have used small, homogeneous samples. We discuss these differences in term of the size and type of samples which were used in previous research, in terms of the time periods of Internet development in which the research was conducted, and in terms of the Internet activities which were measured.     

Family factors in Internet addiction among Chinese youth: A review of English- and Chinese-language studies

Approximately 513 million Chinese citizens used the Internet in 2011, with adolescents reporting comparatively high levels of use. Although numerous studies (reviewed herein) indicate that Internet Addiction/Pathological Internet Use (IA/PIU) is endemic among Chinese youth and trending upward, no prior review has examined family correlates of IA/PIU in Chinese youth. Thus, our principal aim was to evaluate methodological features and substantive findings of all studies examining family correlates of IA/PIU in Chinese youth. Internet, demographic, psychosocial, and psychiatric/behavioral correlates of IA/PIU, and prevalence estimates for adolescent IA/PIU, were also examined using the large set of studies evaluated in association with our principal aim. Comprehensive bibliographic searches identified 42 pertinent investigations. Youth with IA/PIU reported greater global dissatisfaction with their families; less organized, cohesive and adaptable families; greater inter-parental and parent–child conflict; and perceived their parents as more punitive, and less supportive, warm, and involved compared to non-IA youth. IA/PIU youth were significantly more likely to have divorced parents, live with a single parent, and be an only child than non-IA/PIU youth. IA/PIU is prevalent among Chinese youth and associated with diverse family, psychosocial and psychiatric/behavioral impairments, but rarely is the focus of prevention and treatment interventions.     

Loneliness,social contacts and Internet addiction: A cross-lagged panel study

This study aims to examine the causal priority in the observed empirical relationships between Internet addiction and other psychological problems. A cross-lagged panel survey of 361 college students in Hong Kong was conducted. Results show that excessive and unhealthy Internet use would increase feelings of loneliness over time. Although depression had a moderate and positive bivariate relationship with Internet addiction at each time point, such a relationship was not significant in the cross-lagged analyses. This study also found that online social contacts with friends and family were not an effective alternative for offline social interactions in reducing feelings of loneliness. Furthermore, while an increase in face-to-face contacts could help to reduce symptoms of Internet addiction, this effect may be neutralized by the increase in online social contacts as a result of excessive Internet use. Taken as a whole, findings from the study show a worrisome vicious cycle between loneliness and Internet addiction.     

Identifying commonalities and differences in personality characteristics of Internet and social media addiction profiles: traits,self-esteem,and self-construal

Excessive use of the Internet and social media has been associated with behavioural addiction, which sparked the researchers’ interest in gaining a better understanding of this global phenomenon. The aim of this study was to fill a gap in knowledge by using just one sample to identify similarities and differences in relationships between technology addictions and personality characteristics, especially traits, self-esteem, and self-construal. The sample consisted of 512 undergraduate students. The results showed that Internet addiction and social media addiction shared many more similarities than differences. Agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness to experiences, emotional stability, self-esteem, the frequency of checking account, and Internet usage were predictors of both Internet addiction and social media addiction. Age, satisfaction with life, and interdependent self-construal did not predict Internet addiction or social media addiction, whereas real self and extraversion predicted Internet addiction only, and gender, posting updates, a number of friends, and independent self-construal predicted social media addiction only. These results provide some basis for an understanding of Internet and social media addiction profiles.     

Problematic Internet use in British adolescents: An exploration of the addictive symptomatology

Research into online addictions has increased substantially over the last decade, particularly amongst youth. This study adapted the Problematic Internet Entertainment Use Scale for Adolescents [PIEUSA] for use with a British population. The adapted scale was used to (i) validate the instrument for English-speaking adolescent samples, (ii) estimate the prevalence of adolescent online problem users and describe their profile, and (iii) assess the accuracy of the scale’s classification of symptomatology. A survey was administered to 1097 adolescents aged between 11 and 18 years. The results indicated that (i) reliability of the adapted scale was excellent; factor validity showed unidimensionality, and construct validity was adequate. The findings also indicated that (ii) prevalence of online problem users was 5.2% and that they were more likely to younger males that engaged in online gaming for more than two hours most days. The majority of online problem users displayed negative addictive symptoms, especially ‘loss of control’ and ‘conflict’. The adapted scale showed (iii) very good sensitivity, specificity, and classification accuracy, and was able to clearly differentiate between problem and non-problem users. The results suggest certain differences between adolescent and adult online problem users based in the predominance of slightly different psychological components.     

Linking multiple risk exposure profiles with adolescent Internet addiction: Insights from the person-centered approach

Accumulating evidence suggests that multiple environmental and individual risk factors are involved in the development of adolescent Internet addiction. However, previous research has primarily relied on variable-centered approaches to examine how each risk factor functions to predict Internet addiction in isolation, ignoring the possibility that there are subgroups of adolescents who may differ in their combined exposure to multiple risk factors. Using a cross-sectional design, we sampled 14 risk factors across multiple socio-ecological levels and used a person-centered approach to identify subgroups of multiple risk exposure and to relate these subgroups to adolescent Internet addiction. A total of 998 Chinese adolescents (M_age = 15.15 years, SD = 1.57) participated in this study by filling out questionnaires regarding 14 family, school, peer, and individual risk factors and Internet addiction. Latent profile analysis identified 4 profiles that evidenced distinct patterns of risk factors: low risk (37%), moderate risk (44%), high risk (15%) and peer risk (4%). The high risk and moderate risk profiles showed higher risk for Internet addiction than the low risk profile. The peer risk profile had higher risk for Internet addiction than the high risk, moderate risk, and low risk profiles. These findings suggest that considerable heterogeneity exists in multiple risk exposure and the multiple risk exposure profiles are differentially associated with adolescent Internet addiction. Results from this study can inform the development of tailored intervention and prevention strategies to reduce adolescent Internet addiction.     

An empirical study of adoptors and non-adopters of the Internet in Singapore

The Internet has been given a great deal of attention around the world and the number of host computers and users on the Internet has been increasing approximately at an exponential rate. However, despite this rapid growth, there are relatively few empirical studies on the Internet. This paper reports on a questionnaire survey of both adopters and non-adopters of the Internet among organizations in Singapore. The organizational characteristics, benefits of adopting the Internet, reasons for not adopting the Internet, criteria for selecting Internet access service providers, etc. were examined, thereby contributing to a better understanding of the Internet phenomenon in Singapore.     

A tale of two sites: Twitter vs. Facebook and the personality predictors of social media usage

Social networking sites (SNS) are quickly becoming one of the most popular tools for social interaction and information exchange. Previous research has shown a relationship between users’ personality and SNS use. Using a general population sample (N = 300), this study furthers such investigations by examining the personality correlates (Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness-to-Experience, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Sociability and Need-for-Cognition) of social and informational use of the two largest SNS: Facebook and Twitter. Age and Gender were also examined. Results showed that personality was related to online socialising and information seeking/exchange, though not as influential as some previous research has suggested. In addition, a preference for Facebook or Twitter was associated with differences in personality. The results reveal differential relationships between personality and Facebook and Twitter usage.