Abstract
Research examining the development of online addictions has grown greatly over the last decade with many studies suggesting both risk factors and protective factors. In an attempt to integrate the theories of attachment and identity formation, the present study investigated the extent to which identity styles and attachment orientations account for three types of online addiction (i.e., internet addiction, online gaming addiction, and social media addiction). The sample comprised 712 Italian students (381 males and 331 females) recruited from schools and universities who completed an offline self-report questionnaire. The findings showed that addictions to the internet, online gaming, and social media were interrelated and were predicted by common underlying risk and protective factors. Among identity styles, ‘informational’ and ‘diffuse-avoidant’ styles were risk factors, whereas ‘normative’ style was a protective factor. Among attachment dimensions, the ‘secure’ attachment orientation negatively predicted the three online addictions, and a different pattern of causal relationships were observed between the styles underlying ‘anxious’ and ‘avoidant’ attachment orientations. Hierarchical multiple regressions demonstrated that identity styles explained between 21.2 and 30% of the variance in online addictions, whereas attachment styles incrementally explained between 9.2 and 14% of the variance in the scores on the three addiction scales. These findings highlight the important role played by identity formation in the development of online addictions.
Highlights
Research examining the development of online addictions has grown greatly over the last decade with many studies suggesting both risk factors and protective factors
On the basis of the aforementioned findings and given that no empirical investigation has simultaneously considered the interrelationship of online addictions with dispositional factors, the present study investigated the extent to which identity styles and attachment orientations accounted for the three types of online addiction
Significant differences were found in the scores of the IGDS-SF9 and Internet Addiction Test (IAT) for males (t[654,737] = 10.237, p < .001) and females (t[696,434] = 6.137, p < .001), whereas there were no differences in Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS) scores
Summary
Research examining the development of online addictions has grown greatly over the last decade with many studies suggesting both risk factors and protective factors. Over the last two decades, the increase in individuals engaging in online activities has led psychologists and researchers to study the more problematic side of excessive technology use (i.e., online addictions; Kuss et al 2014) Scientific interest in this topic began in the mid1990s with papers by Griffiths (1995, 1996, 1998) and Young (1996, 1998) who both developed criteria (primarily based on those for pathological gambling) to distinguish normal from addictive Internet usage. Underpinned by Griffiths’ (2005) biopsychological addiction components model, new instruments have been developed using the DSM-5 criteria such as the IGD-20 (Pontes et al 2014) and the IGD9-Short Form (Pontes and Griffiths 2015) which have been validated in a number of languages including Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Persian (Fuster et al 2016; Monacis et al 2016a; Pontes and Griffiths 2016; Wu et al 2017)
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